NEBRASKA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM DANA COLLEGE Washington County Pilot-Tribune & Enterprise

A series of break-ins at Dana College over the past few weeks have led to one arrest, a multitude of equipment, doors and panes of glass to replace and more questions than answers.

The first incident happened the evening of January 25. That night someone forced entry into the Pioneer Memorial Administrative Building and Hunt Campus Center at Dana College, said Blair Police Lt. Aaron Barrow.

Evidence left at the scene suggests that the break-in was conducted by more than one person, he said. After gaining entry, the suspects stole several items, including laptop computers, office supplies and even money from the bookstore’s safe.

After police investigated the incident, Dana student Ronnie Mills, 19, Blair, was cited by the Blair Police Department on suspicion of four counts of burglary and four counts of criminal mischief on Jan. 27, Barrow said.

Washington County Attorney Shurie Graeve said Mills has an appearance date at the courthouse on March 8. Bob Schmoll, executive vice president and CFO at Dana, said Mills has been expelled from the college.

After the citation, most people would have assumed that the case was closed.

But just a week and a half later, some time in the early morning hours of Feb. 6, there was another set of burglaries in the Pioneer Memorial Administration Building. This time the suspects forcibly entered nearly every room in the building, Barrow said. Again the evidence points to multiple suspects and again they stole computers and office equipment and even damaged a pop machine looking for loose change.

“They took anything that wasn’t nailed down,” Barrow said.

Evidence at the scene could potentially identify at least one of the suspects, he said.

The burglars gained access to the building through an exterior window, Schmoll said. Once inside, the suspects broke into individual offices by breaking the glass windows in doors to open them from the inside.

While inside the office building, the suspects rifled through drawers and file cabinets, looking for anything of value, Schmoll said. They even attempted, unsuccessfully, to break into the office safe, he said. Some of the computers stolen the second time around were replacements from the first break-in, he said.

“I can’t think of any office they didn’t either break into, or try to break into, in this building,” Schmoll said.

The first break-in was relatively minor in scope, he said. The first time the suspects took a couple of laptops and stole money out of the safe in the bookstore. The second incident was much more extensive, he said

.The college had contracted with American Security Services to provide security for the campus. The company was supposed to patrol the school’s buildings, but for some reason nobody checked on the administration building that night, Schmoll said.

The school has ended its relationship with American Security Services and is looking at a number of different security options for the campus, Schmoll said. The manager of American Security declined to comment on the incidents.

During the burglary, the suspects broke down several doors, and broke out the glass in many more doors. The school is replacing about half-a-dozen doors and many of the broken glass panes have been temporarily replaced by plywood.

The school’s insurance policy will pay for most of the damage, Schmoll said.

“We are asking anybody that has info, even if they’re afraid, to contact Crime Stoppers,” Barrow said.

Calls to Crime Stoppers are fielded by an answering service in Washington state, so the tipster can remain completely anonymous and no contact with the police is necessary. There is a reward of up to $1,000 for information that can lead to an arrest, Barrow said.

For more information on Crime Stoppers, log onto the Blair Police Department’s web site at www.blair-police.org.