CONNECTICUT COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOL Record-JournalWALLINGFORD — The arrest of a Goshen woman charged with stealing computers from Moses Y .Beach school came from anonymous calls to police by acquaintances of the woman, a court affidavit stated.

On Monday, police arrested Margaret B. Strachan on charges of first-degree larceny, third-degree computer crime and altering manufacturer's serial numbers. Strachan is accused of stealing eight IBM Thinkpad laptop computers from the school during the Christmas holiday break.

According to a court affidavit, the computers were valued at about $13,560. Power supplies and cords were also stolen.

Anonymous callers who tipped police off to Strachan said they had visited her home at 484 Sharon Turnpike and saw about 20 stolen computers in the house. Police believe other computers were stolen from Teikyo Post University in Waterbury.

School officials reported the computers as stolen on Jan. 5, after returning from break. Some of the computers were stolen from a locked laptop cart, said Randall Backus, director of information technology services. Others were taken from an office near the school's entrance.

At the time of the theft, Strachan was employed by the Horizon Services Co. of New Haven and East Hartford. She is no longer employed by the company, Ted Hsu of Horizon Services said.

Hsu stressed that his company performs routine background checks on all employees, and Strachan, who worked with the company for 10 years, had no prior criminal background.

The company "amicably" terminated the contract with the school, he said, adding he believed Strachan is innocent, and was possibly framed.

"She's certainly been in charge of larger jobs than that. And I believe she has nothing to do with it," Hsu said. "We're confident she'll be found not guilty."

Police believe Strachan gave some of the computers to her daughters as Christmas presents. The first of the computers recovered was found at Strachan's 20-year-old daughter's home in Waterbury.



Other computers were turned over or sold to an acquaintance of Strachan's who worked at Teikyo Post University, police believe, who assisted in removing the computer's security chips. Several of those were also eventually turned over to police, where serial numbers stored in the computers were found to match those stolen from Moses Y.

Strachan was released on a $5,000 bond and is due in Meriden Superior Court on April 15.