NEW MEXICO COMPUTER HARDWARE MISSING FROM SANTA FE COUNTY $13,000 of equipment missing:

$13,000 of equipment missing

Hardware, part of computer systems upgrade, went missing sometime after Dec. 26

Valuable computers are missing from a downtown Santa Fe County storage building.

County officials told city police Friday that somebody stole about $13,000 worth of equipment from the former Paramount Lounge on Sandoval Street -- a building the county bought two years ago and now uses primarily for storage.

The equipment was part of about $250,000 worth of hardware that will be used to upgrade the county's Internet, voice mail and e-mail systems, said Stephen Ulibarri, a county spokesman. It disappeared sometime after its Dec. 26 delivery, but county workers did not discover and verify machines were missing until they completed an inventory last week, he said.

City Police Capt. Gary Johnson said the department is investigating the case as a larceny since no evidence has been uncovered that indicates the building was burglarized -- defined as an unlawful entry with intention to commit a theft.

Asked whether a county employee might be responsible, Ulibarri said, "We don't know. At this point we are awaiting the outcome of the investigation."

Johnson said his investigator has not identified any suspects to date, noting the county installed a locked door to cut off the storage area from other parts of building. Agnes Lopez, the deputy director for the county Projects and Facilities Management Department, told police she did not know if the equipment was stolen before or after the door went in, he said.

"There is not really information to say if it was a burglary or an internal theft or what the deal was because it took so long to report it and the building has changed," Johnson said.

The county plans to tear down the former Paramount to make room for a new courthouse it intends to build. An architecture firm was hired in November to craft designs for the facility. Construction is expected to cost about $20 million and could start in 2008, officials have said.