Four offices in Plant Hall and one classroom in the science wing were broken into earlier this week (April 7-9).
Two portable hard drives and a battery back-up were taken from the office of the Tampa Press, but the battery unit was found discarded in a Plant Hallway.
Nothing appeared to be taken from the other offices or the classroom.
Student thought it was a bomb
The first reports of the vandalism came on Saturday evening.
A student who wished to remain anonymous came to the Honors Program office early in the afternoon to study, leaving at about 3:30 p.m. and returning around 6 p.m. to find a broken window above the door and a black beeping box in front of the door.
The student immediately thought the box was a bomb and contacted security. It was later discovered that the black box was a battery back up pack which beeps when it is not plugged into the power source.
No items were reported missing in the Honors Program Office.
The International Programs Office across the hall was also vandalized. A UT security report stated that the office was only broken into and the furniture in Dr. Bear’s office was overturned. TPD reported that a computer was stolen from Dr. Bear’s office but later confirmed that Dr. Bear took her computer home.
After the two reports came in, UT security checked the rest of Plant Hall. The officers found that SC 218 was also broken into. The door showed evidence of forcible entry, but no items appeared to be stolen.
TPD dusted for fingerprints and all results came back negative.
New break-ins discovered
Two days after the initial reports, another break in was discovered in PH 442, the office of UT Press.
The UT security report stated that someone dragged a black bench down the hall in front of the door and proceeded to throw a 40-pound box of books through the wood panel above the door.
The vandals then entered the room and stole two 160-GB hard drives and a battery back-up unit, which was found later in the hallway.
The hard drives held 8 to 10 years of printing archives and files.
“It’s going to be really hard to reconstruct,” said Sean Donnelly, Assistant to UT Press and Tampa Review.
Donnelly also didn’t understand a motive for the burglary. At press time, neither UT security nor TPD had not found anyone responsible for the crimes.
Securing Plant Hall
Donnelly suggested that cameras be installed in Plant Hall, but Safety and Security director Charles Mascenik said preservationists are critical of putting such technological devices into the hallways of a historic building.
Mascenik also said Plant can’t be locked because it is a registered historical building that is open to the public.