KOREA OVERSEAS US MILITARY BASES RELEASE COMPUTER THEFT REPORTSEuropean and Pacific Stars & StripesCID offering cash to crack unsolved cases in South Korea
Civilians and servicemembers urged to help investigations

By T.D. Flack, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, June 28, 2005



SEOUL — A half-page ad in the U.S. military’s Morning Calm newspaper offers $1,000 for information that will help identify, apprehend and convict those responsible for stealing $25,000 in cash from the Yongsan Post Office.

The reward is just one of 16 offered by the Criminal Investigation Command — called CID — for unsolved crimes on the Korean peninsula.

Chris Grey, a CID spokesman from the command’s Fort Belvoir, Va., headquarters, called the rewards another investigative tool used to help solve crimes.

“We often reach out to the community, both civilian and military, for information to assist us in solving a specific crime,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It’s important to understand that investigative work is very grueling and demanding work. CID special agents work extremely hard to solve hundreds of crimes and the vast majority of the time the people who have perpetrated the crime are working very hard not to get caught.”

He said the idea that all crimes can be solved within an hour by using forensics, as portrayed on popular television shows, is a myth. “Although that does occur occasionally, it is routinely the tenacious and untiring detective work of the agent on the street that puts the pieces of the puzzle together … and offering rewards encourages people to come forward with tidbits of information that just may be the missing piece of the puzzle.

“Rewards not only help to identify the guilty party … they also provide leads that, when coupled with other information, can help break a case,” he wrote. “What may seem insignificant to the lay person can be just what was missing to place a person at a crime scene or exonerate a person who has been wrongfully accused.”

The following is a list of rewards for crimes in South Korea, as published on the CID Web site:

Yongsan Garrison:

Call Yongsan’s CID office at DSN 724-6695 or e-mail information to mail038@korea.army.mil.

A $1,000 reward is offered in connection with the March 30 theft of $25,000 cash from the Yongsan Garrison Post Office. The reward offer expires May 21, 2006.
$500 reward, theft of a Biometric Identification Database System (BIDS) scanner from a Hannam Village security building on Oct. 16, 2004. Expires Oct. 27.
$500 reward, sexual assault of a female soldier inside her barracks room during the early morning hours of Oct. 1, 2004. Assailant described as having light skin, of medium height and build and wearing khaki pants, a dark-colored sweater with a two-inch stripe across the chest and arms and a plain khaki-colored hat. Expires Nov. 15.
$500 reward, rape of a female soldier. An unknown male entered her unsecured barracks room while she slept, raped her and left the area when the female soldier awoke and confronted him. Expires July 29.
$250 reward, theft of an Olympus Camera, Nikon lens and Lexar flash memory stick. Between March 15 and March 25, the camera equipment was removed from two U.S mail parcels. Estimated loss: $1,260. Expires May 17, 2006.

Camp Casey:
Contact Casey’s CID office at DSN DSN 730-4256 or e-mail information to mail838@korea.army.mil.

A $2,500 reward is offered in connection with the Aug. 13 theft and damage to government property at Camp Hovey’s Building S-3627. Someone forcibly entered the building and stole two Dell Optiplex computers, serial numbers H23 HT31 and H43HT31; one Compaq 6433C computer, serial number V242LB4ZA357; one Dell 266 MHZ MM8 computer, serial number FP4NP; three Dell 3400, PIII 650 computers, serial numbers 0021956587, 0022005401, and 0022005407; one Dell DHM P4 computer, serial number 4MBZB11; two 17-inch monitors, serial numbers C0017012853 and C0017012862; one Dell P793 16-inch monitor, serial number 47605-23B-DD42; two HP LaserJet 4050N printers, serial numbers USBC045160 and USBC045435; one Tektronix Z740 printer, serial number 8LMEVB19403; and one Okidata 321 printer, serial number 308C0496373. Approximate value of the stolen property is more than $13,700. The reward offer expires Aug. 26.

A $1,000 reward, theft of several Compaq desktop computers and monitors from the third-floor dayroom of Camp Hovey’s Building 3752 from mid-August to Sept. 13. Soldiers living in the building before it was vacated in August used the Army Knowledge Online lab housed in the dayroom. The computers and monitors, last accounted for in mid-August, were reported stolen after a Sept. 13 inspection. Expires Sept. 22.
A $1,000 reward, theft of two Compaq desktop computers, eight monitors and a 50-inch television from Camp Casey’s Building 134 between mid-August and Sept. 13. Last accounted for in mid-August, the items were reported missing on Sept. 13. Expires on Sept. 22.
A $500 reward, theft of a Division Support Command AN/TVS Night Vision Device — serial number 05541. Theft occurred between May 4 and May 26 from Building 2373. Expires June 6, 2006.
Camp Humphreys:

Contact Camp Humphrey’s CID office at DSN 753-6147 or DSN 753-6159 or e-mail information to mail138@korea.army.mil.

A $250 reward is offered in connection with the theft of a Hewlett Packard computer, monitor and keyboard from a barracks room on Suwon Air Base, South Korea. The reward offer expires July 14.
$250 reward, April 6 theft of computers from Camp Humphreys’ Directorate of Information Management, Building 574. Stolen: Three computers valued at more than $4,600. Expires May 4, 2006.
Camp Red Cloud:
Contact Casey’s CID office at DSN 732-6709 or e-mail information to mail338@korea.army.mil.

A $500 reward is offered in connection with larceny and damage to an Army Air Force Exchange Service Korean Telecom phone card dispenser at Camp Bonifas’s Building S-150 from July 6 to July 12, 2004. The reward expires July 21.
A $1,000 reward, July 7 theft of a Panasonic Toughbook notebook computer from Camp Red Cloud’s G-2 Section Bunker Complex. Expires Sept. 1.
A $500 reward, theft of a Panasonic Toughbook notebook computer, serial number 3HYUA01343, from Division Artillery briefing room in Camp Red Cloud’s Upper Bunker Complex. Expires Nov. 1.
Taegu:

Contact the Taegu-area CID office at DSN 768-8225 or e-mail information to mail438@korea.army.mil.

A $200 cash reward is offered in connection with the theft of a $2,193 Sony DCRVX2000 Digital Camcorder, serial number 1076168-F, from the Visual Information Support Center at Camp Henry. The reward offer expires Dec. 14.
Camp Carroll:

Contact the Carroll CID office at DSN 765-8516 or e-mail information to mail438@korea.army.mil.

A $350 reward is offered in connection with the Jan. 17 theft of computer equipment and cash from Camp Carroll’s 229th Signal Company’s Operations Office. Stolen: a $1,242 Optiplex laptop computer, serial number 701001J411684; a $2,337 Latitude C840 laptop computer, serial number 701001J410413; and a lock box containing about $200 in U.S. dollars and South Korean won. The reward offer expires Jan. 19, 2006.