CONNECTICUT COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOLThe Advocate - School computer theft blamed on security lapseSchool computer theft blamed on security lapse

By Brian Lockhart
Staff Writer

Published August 17 2005


NORWALK -- A school official yesterday said that a security lapse at Brien McMahon High School resulted in last week's theft of about $35,000 worth of Macintosh and Dell computers.

In addition, water leakage caused a $5,000 to $8,000 worth of damage to several other Dell computers, officials said.

"It's a major problem we have to resolve in two weeks" in time for the start of school, Assistant Superintendent of Support Services Stuart Opdahl said last night. "These have to be replaced. . . . It's really a shame this occurred like this."

The theft was discovered Thursday when a city woman notified police and school officials that a juvenile relative had about 10 computers from Norwalk schools in a basement. Police determined that some of the computers were once kept at McMahon.

After the woman's report, Opdahl had staff perform an inventory of McMahon, which is undergoing a $70 million renovation and expansion, to determine the full extent of the loss.

As of yesterday, no arrests had been made and police had not released other details. Opdahl said last night 12 Macintosh computers used for teaching graphic arts, worth $30,000 were missing, along with about $4,000 worth of Dells. All had been sitting at work stations covered by tarps in an older section of McMahon that is being renovated.

The Macintoshes are about three years old and are "the key element for teaching the graphic arts program," Opdahl said.

The thief or thieves cut through a construction fence, broke down a temporary barrier and entered the building, Opdahl said.

Unbeknownst to school officials, the Sonitrol security system that alerts authorities to movement and noise in that section of the building had been disconnected during construction, he said.

"We were never told the wiring was disconnected in the area they were working in," Opdahl said. "Had we known, we would have indicated to the contractors that some other alternative had to be done, probably with a live security force being in place."

He added: "No one came back to us and told us the fence was cut, so we were totally left unaware."

John Hawley of Gilbane Construction, the firm hired by the city to help oversee all municipal construction projects, has been out of the office and did not return phone calls to his cell phone Monday or yesterday.

Opdahl said he expected to meet with Hawley today.

The thief or thieves did "a very clean job," Opdahl said.

"They disconnected and put the tarps back over the other pieces, so you couldn't immediately acknowledge someone was in there if you weren't aware the barrier had been broken into," he said.

Opdahl said he spoke to police to determine how many computers had been found and whether they had leads on the rest.

If all are not retrieved, the school district will have to replace them immediately, he said.

"I know it's not coming out of operating funds, so it's got to come out of something else -- insurance or capital funds. I'm not sure," Opdahl said.

He said he had less information on how the water damage occurred to the other computers.

This is the second incident to occur at McMahon this month that has been related to contractors' activities

Fire Marshal Glenn Iannaccone last week concluded that a pair of Dumpster fires on Aug. 3 were accidentally caused when heated scraps of old roofing were tossed in with flammable garbage