ONTARIO COMPUTER STOLEN http://www.windsorstar.com/health/Patient+feels+violated+after+theft/4935510/story.html

Patient feels 'violated' after theft

 

Hospital deals with incidents

 

BY DYLAN KRISTY, THE WINDSOR STAR JUNE 13, 2011 7:21 AM

 

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WINDSOR, Ont. -- Police are searching for a suspect who may be connected to two separate thefts at Windsor Regional Hospital.

Photograph by: Handout: Windsor Police Service, The Windsor Star

A recent rash of thefts at Windsor Regional Hospital has left a Leamington cancer patient feeling "violated" and "scared." 

Angie Featherstone-Stamatopoulos returned from her radiation treatment Friday to find the locker where she had stored her personal belongings open and empty.

"I feel violated," the Stage 3 breast cancer patient said. "It's sad that someone would do this to a cancer patient that's already going through this lifethreatening disease. What kind of person is that?"

Windsor police are investigating a series of thefts that occurred at Windsor Regional Hospital's Metropolitan Campus.

Six thefts have been reported from the hospital in June.

Staff Sgt. Dan Shannon said they have a suspect associated with the thefts of an employee's laptop on Wednesday and an employee's wallet from the gift shop on Saturday.

Windsor Regional Hospital president and CEO David Musyj said the hospital has more than 300 security cameras in public areas which supplied police with the detailed image.

"We have this suspect's exact steps inside the hospital and, unfortunately, see him leaving with the computer," Musyj said.

"People go to the hospital to get better and the last thing you want to do is go to the hospital and have stuff stolen."

Musyj said the information on the laptop is saved on the hospital's server and would not be accessible through the computer.

He also said the suspect neglected to steal the power cable so he won't have access to the computer very long anyway.

"The hospital is a place that's generally open to the public to access and, unfortunately because of that, from time to time we have individuals who are coming here for improper motives."

Featherstone-Stamatopoulos filed a police report but police have not yet determined if the same suspect is responsible for her theft.

The 36-year-old mother of four was diagnosed with breast cancer in November and has to drive up to Windsor to receive her radiation treatments. Stage 3 is usually considered locally advanced, one stage below the most advanced, Stage 4.

She said her treatment lasted about 10 minutes and when she returned to her locker, which isn't covered by the public surveillance cameras, all of her belongings had been stolen.

"I had put my purse, my cross, my phone and all my personal belongings in there, including my identification," she said.

"I feel violated, not just because of the material things, but now they know my address. They know everything about me."

Featherstone-Stamatopoulos's husband John had to drive up from Leamington to pick her up, drive home and then take a cab back to the hospital with a new $180 key from the dealership so he could drive her vehicle home.

He said he's disgusted that someone would prey on a person who is already going through such an awful experience.

Despite losing irreplaceable items like her cross, Featherstone-Stamatopoulos said there's one thing she keeps telling herself. "If a person is willing to do this to a cancer patient then they must have needed the stuff more than I did," she said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Windsor police at 519-255-6700, ext. 4830, or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477.

"We hope people call in so this person can be arrested, charged and convicted so we can recover this property," Musyj said.

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