ARIZONA COMPUTER STOLEN FROM COMMUNITY CENTERCasa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc.Community Center closed after work stations stolen

By PRESTON McCONKIE, Staff Writer November 17, 2004

Ricky LaPaglia and Tyron Jackson have been learning to twiddle their thumbs since three computer work stations were stolen from the Community Center on the corner of Seventh Street and Pima Avenue on Nov. 8.
Some time between 8 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7 and 8 a.m. the next day, someone pried open a window on the facility's south side, kicked in two inside doors and made off with three Dell computers, three 19-inch flat view screens and a Sony PlayStation.

"I never knew how much we used those things until they were gone," said Jackson, who helps run the center. "I guess 90 percent of what we do involves computers."

Other than making telephone calls and occasionally driving somewhere on an errand, much of the duo's work involves scheduling and e-mailing. Even phone calls are a trial now that their software and ten years of records have gone.

"They even took the modem," LaPaglia said.

The center is normally open to the public from 3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with a mostly teenage clientele. LaPaglia said anywhere from three to 50 youths come to the center on a given day to play pool, ping pong, basketball or video games, or just to watch television.

The center has been closed since the burglary was discovered Monday by LaPaglia, who said he saw the west door propped open "as if they were planning on coming back but never made it."

He expects the facility to reopen Nov. 22.

One of the work stations was quickly replaced by "an old dinosaur" brought over from the Coolidge Parks and Recreation office by IT Specialist Matthew Spitz. The other two will be replaced with new machines at a cost of about $2,500. Spitz said replacements probably wouldn't arrive for at least two weeks.

"The real loss isn't the equipment, it's the information on them," Spitz said.