FLORIDA FOLLOW UP ON COMPUTER THEFT AT WEST KENDALL COMPUTER CONSULTING FIRMHerald.com | 11/11/2005 | Police ask help in computer warehouse robberyPosted on Fri, Nov. 11, 2005

Police ask help in computer warehouse robbery

By THERESA BRADLEY

tbradley@herald.com

Police asked for the public's help today in helping solve a theft of nearly $1 million worth in computer equipment from a West Kendall computer consulting firm.

Four men in ski masks stole the goods in a broad daylight heist on Saturday, Oct. 8, police said, saying the robbery was captured on surveillance tape. The investigation into the case has been delayed in part by hurricane duty, officials said.

A morning cleaning crew discovered the theft of nearly $500,000 worth of software and $500,000 worth of hardware -- including laptops, towers and monitors -- from ProSys Information Systems's Miami office at 13876 SW 119th Ave. Police initially reported the theft in late October, shortly before Hurricane Wilma struck.

Because thieves had used the firm's security code to deactivate its alarm, detectives considered that the burglary might have been an inside job. But investigators found that ProSys had been phoned weeks earlier by someone claiming to represent a security company employed by the firm. That person confirmed ProSys's security password in the call.

Det. Alvaro Zabaleta, spokesman for Miami-Dade Police, urged business owners not to share passcodes with anyone. Most security companies keep clients' passwords on file and would never attempt to confirm them by phone, he said.

The robbers entered through the building's front door, past corporate offices and into ProSys's warehouse, where they used dollies to load boxes of computer equipment onto an unmarked white box truck, police said.

As the truck left the lot, two boxes spilled out of its still-open door. One suspect ran back to collect and reload them before heading off, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call CRIMESTOPPERS at 305-471-TIPS.