WISCONSIN (UPDATE) COMPUTERS STOLEN news: 31 laptops stolen from MATC in '09:

31 laptops stolen from MATC in '09

Todd Finkelmeyer — 4/10/2009 4:55 pm

A total of 31 laptop computers have been stolen from Madison Area Technical College since the start of 2009, said Jim Bottoni, chief of security for the college's district.

However, Bottoni stressed that none of the owners had any sensitive or confidential material saved on the laptops which were taken.

"So no grades or Social Security numbers or anything like that was jeopardized," said Bottoni.

About two-thirds of the computers have been stolen from MATC's Truax Campus on the north side of town, with the others being taken from the school's Downtown Campus.

Most recently, five laptops went missing from those two campuses between April 3-6, said Bottoni.

"This is an active investigation," he said. "We have some leads that we're following up on and we're working very closely with Madison's Police Department as well. So this isn't something we're just closing our eyes to."

Bottoni said the estimated replacement value is $1,300 per laptop, meaning thieves have stolen more than $40,000 worth of computers from MATC since January. Only two of the reported missing or stolen laptops were owned by students, said Bottoni, with the other 29 being owned by the MATC district.

"For the most part, these are not students who are being careless," said Bottoni. "We've hammered very hard with our students, because that's who we're serving, about how to secure their property. But unfortunately some of our employees are not as conscious."

In all of 2008, 18 computers were taken from MATC campuses.

Bottoni said the majority of the computers have gone missing from "office-type areas." In some instances, one locked door leads to an individual MATC office. In other cases where computers have been taken, one door might access four individual office suites or labs -- so if a person can get through one locked door, they could have access to a number of smaller areas.

Bottoni said it's possible someone who works at MATC is gaining access and taking the computers.

"That is an option that we have not excluded," said Bottoni. "But we're not sure. It's been kind of sporadic and the entry points have been different. We have done a complete inventory of our access cards, our access system. And we have security cameras, but we don't have them everywhere."

Lt. Trevor Knight of the Madison Police Department's north district said MATC has filed two reports with Madison police about the computer thefts, and the department has assigned a detective to the case.

Todd Finkelmeyer — 4/10/2009 4:55 pm