PENNSYLVANIA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM UNIVERSITYThe Sentinel Online - Breaking NewsFormer Shippensburg man faces computer-theft charges

By Dale Heberlig, Sentinel Reporter


Police expect a man accused of stealing several computers from a Shippensburg University computer lab in December to turn himself in to authorities.

Martin A. Strom, 27, whose last known address is in Lemoyne, is charged with felony counts of unlawful use of a computer and theft by unlawful taking as well as a misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property.

In a court affidavit, SU police say Strom, a former resident of the first block of East Orange Street in Shippensburg, stole several complete computer sets and other individual components and sold them through an eBay Internet auction.

The equipment was stolen from three different labs at the university's Mathematics and Computing Technologies Center during the first two weeks of December. The labs are open on a continuous basis when classes are in session, police Lt. Thomas Rumberger says.

In the affidavit, police say Strom was tracked down through two eBay sales he negotiated using the user name "Factory303." The first sale -- of a Dell computer, flat screen monitor, keyboard, mouse, CPU computer chip and a 1 gb Ram stick -- netted $760. The second sale involved a 17-inch Dell flat screen monitor was sold for $250.

Police also tracked a third sale done under the user name "anssrs2004" that was never consummated.

SU police say Strom returned a variety of computer equipment Jan. 9, but at least one complete system remains unaccounted for.