VIRGINIA COMPUTERS STOLEN News: Theft of Laptops, Other Valuables Envelop Law School: Virginia Law Weekly:

Theft of Laptops, Other Valuables Envelop Law School

By Andy Howlett '10
News Editor

Has the community of trust at the Law School been punctured?

If an important part of it was the ability to leave valuables unattended at the Law School without fear of them being stolen, then the answer is yes. The problem has grown to the level where thefts of laptops and other expensive materials is no longer one that can be ignored or even cast as a string of isolated incidents.

Rather, an investigation by the Law Weekly shows that the thefts exhibit an awareness of the level of trust in the UVA community, and a desire and an ability to exploit it.

Swiped From Withers-Brown and Slaughter

Last Tuesday started out as a normal day for third-year student Ellen Bognar. She woke up, drove to school, went to class, and then decided to go work out. As she had done before, she left her bag with her laptop, a sleek black MacBook, near the bench outside Withers-Brown 116 around 1:20 p.m. When she returned at 3:40 the bag and the computer were gone.

Bognar informed both Dean Ballenger and the Charlottesville police, and a search for her laptop is ongoing. For reasons related to the investigation effort, the Law Weekly is unable to provide any further details on the incident at this time.

Suffice it to say, the entire experience has been stressful for Bognar. Not only did she lose an expensive computer, which retails at over $1400, but she also lost all of the information she had stored on the unit. “I’ve lost all my notes, music, photos, and bar application,” said Bognar, frustrated.

“And,” she continued, “I’ve learned not to trust people, which sucks.”

Another third year student, Gabe Walters, also had his laptop and bag stolen. On Wednesday, September 9, 2008, at around 6:00 p.m., Walters left his laptop and a casebook in his bag by his locker carrel on the first floor of Slaughter Hall. He went to go print something at the computer lab in Withers-Brown. When he returned sometime near 6:30, his bag and his computer were gone

“I lost all my files, documents, music videos, tax returns, everything,” said Walters. “All of my work product from my summer internship with the ACLU was on there, too, and some of that was confidential.”

Could it have been another UVA Law student? Maybe, says Walters. “You don’t want to assume that it is a fellow student, but you don’t want to assume that random people are just coming into the Law School, but it seems strange that random thief would go after a casebook.”

Walters never recovered his computer or casebook, and had to use loan money to purchase a new one.

Law Library Not Safe

Bognar’s computer was stolen from the halls of the Law School—where the sight of an unattended laptop is a rarity. But what about the Law School library, where a solitary laptop with no owner in sight is a common occurrence? Are students’ belongings any safer there?

Not really, as third-year Ray Hafner will tell you. During the exam period last period Hafner was putting long hours at the Law Library preparing a brief for the arbitration competition. After working straight up until the library was closing at 2 a.m., Hafner decided to call it a night. Since he knew that he would be back the following morning, he placed his laptop under some of his belongings so it was not visible and then headed home.

When he arrived the next morning, his computer was gone. “My first thought was that someone in the library had put it somewhere for safekeeping,” said Hafner, adding that he did not panic until he realized that none of the library staff knew anything about his missing computer.

Worse still, the circumstances of the theft indicate someone with fairly detailed knowledge of the Law School. “I left when the library closed at 2 a.m.,” explained Hafner. “But someone logged on to the UVA network with my computer at exactly 2:07 a.m. So it was someone who was either in the building after closing or someone who had access to it. [That person] opened my computer and logged on to the wireless network just that one time—[he] never showed up afterward.”

Hafner had to get a new computer as well as rewrite his brief. Luckily, he took his class notes by hand, and, since he had a Law School bundle-computer, he was able to obtain a loaner replacement for exams right away; Hafner credited the LawITC people as being “excellent” in handling the matter.

Unlike Walters, Hafner doubted that it was another law student. “If you think about the consequences, I’m positive it’s not a law student . . . but it was someone who knew the law school pretty well.”

Reflecting on the experience, Hafner noted that “of course, it’s absolutely stupid to leave your laptop unattended overnight, but you just get to feeling comfortable leaving belongings around unattended at UVA Law, because you trust everyone here and everyone else is doing it.”

Thief Targets Mailboxes, Textbooks

Laptop computers are an attractive target, but also a problematic one: They can be traced by media access control (a.k.a. MAC) address and other online markers, and can be conspicuous to steal, as even at the Law School students have tended to guard them more closely than their other possessions.

Some of those other possessions—like casebooks—are pretty expensive themselves. With a new Corporations textbook costing $147.50 at Courts and Commerce, casebooks are valuable items, and there is an easy market for them as well: not only can they be resold back to Courts and Commerce during finals week, but there is also an active market for them on the Internet.

Third-year Gwen Kern has twice been the victim of a stolen textbook. “The first was a brand new Secured Transactions textbook, last semester during the textbook return period. I stuck it in my mailbox in Scott Commons after class on Wednesday and it was gone by Friday afternoon.”

“To add insult to injury,” Kern continued, “I had a two-year-old used Federal Income Tax casebook stolen from the same mailbox over winter break. I had lent it to a friend, who put it there to return it to me after I had left for the break. The day I got back, I looked, but it was gone.”

Clare Wuerker, another third-year student, had a similar situation befall her. Wuerker’s brand-new Secured Transactions textbook was also swiped form a mailbox, sometime during the add-drop period.

Where do the casebooks go? Maybe back to Courts & Commerce, but probably on the Internet, to websites like half.com, where buying and selling textbooks can be a lucrative endeavor.

The Law Weekly caught up with second-year student Joe Tavery, who admits that he does pretty well buying and selling textbooks—legitimately—on half.com, a website that allows users to name their own price for items they wish to buy. “I buy low and sell high,” said Tavery, explaining that the interface was easy to use and he could often sell books on half.com for five times as much as he could selling them back to Courts & Commerce.

“I set the price I want to sell for,” Tavery continued. “For example, I’ll put a book up the week before the semester starts, and it’s usually snapped up at a pretty high price, though not as high as what the bookstore charges. If they haven’t sold in a week, I’ll probably lower the price a bit.”

Tavery’s angle, however, is a legitimate one. “I only sell books that I’ve acquired legally, of course; I’ve never stolen a book.” He added, though, that based on his experiences, it would not be difficult for someone to sell a stolen textbook online and profit handsomely from it, especially if it were a current edition in good condition. “It [would be] so easy,” Tavery said.

Perpetrators Face Stiff Punishments

Last semester, after one of the thefts occurred, Honor Committee members and second-year students Sarah Robertson and Andrew Lloyd penned an editorial in the Law Weekly urging students with information about the theft to contact them, noting the applicability of the University’s “single-sanction” punishment to the person responsible, and explaining the process of conscientious retraction.

When contacted for this article, Robertson reiterated the significance of the single sanction. “Any University of Virginia student who is found guilty of lying, cheating or stealing is expelled permanently from the University,” Robertson said, which include the perpetrators of both the laptop and textbook thefts.

However, Robertson noted that Honor Committee members like she and Lloyd cannot initiate the proceedings themselves—not until students or faculty members who have information about an alleged violation of the Honor Code file a report. For that reason, Robertson strongly encourages anyone who has any information about any of the thefts to contact them, or, alternatively, contact the honor office.

For those responsible, Robertson explained that there is a process of “conscientious retraction,” which, if effective, would be a complete affirmative defense to honor proceedings. The process, however, is only valid so long as it is not filed “after the student knows that anyone suspects that he or she committed the Honor offense.” More information about the subject is available from Honor Committee members, or the Honor Code website, virginia.edu/honor

A conscientious retraction will not protect the thief(s) from the Virginia Criminal Code, however. Va. Code § 8.2-95 defines Grand Larceny as the theft not from the person of any item valued at over $200. The offense is “punishable by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for not less than one nor more than twenty years or, in the discretion of the jury or court trying the case without a jury, be confined in jail for a period not exceeding twelve months or fined not more than $2,500, either or both.”

A felony conviction in Virginia also strips one of the right to vote, as well as several other privileges, such as the right to hold public office and the right to own a firearm.

Administration Advises Caution

Martha Ballenger, in an email to the student body after one of the thefts, said that students should be extra cautious regarding their personal belongings at the Law School.

Commenting to the Law Weekly last Monday, Ballenger expressed her dismay that yet another laptop was stolen. “It is extremely distressing that losses like this can occur in the Law School,” said Ballenger. “Since this is a public building, people not affiliated with the school are free to come here, and I sincerely hope and trust that a stranger and not a member of our community is responsible for these crimes.”

“Students should report any such loss immediately to the University Police,” Ballenger added, “in case they have information as to a possible perpetrator or can use the new information toward identifying a pattern that might lead to the recovery of the property.”

In any event, one thing is clear: The halcyon environment, in which students were able to leave their belongings—even their expensive ones like computers—unattended without fear of them being taken is gone forever. In its place is a brave new world where nothing is safe, and anyone who leaves their computer in the law library or casebook in a mailbox is at risk of falling prey to thieves who are all too ready and able to play on our sense of trust and community.

Still, at least one student thinks the sense of community at the Law School remains strong: “When I told my friends about what had happened they were extraordinarily supportive, and even friends of friends were offering class notes that they had lost, one friend sent out an email asking if anyone had the casebook I could borrow,” said Walters. “People at the Law School really came together around me in a real supportive way, which is great after a theft . . . their support helped to restore the Law School’s sense of community in a very moving way.”