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Stolen laptop's camera gives police a lead
Police at the University of Nevada, Reno are looking for a person of interest in Dayton whose photo was taken by a stolen laptop when he tried to use it because the computer was connected to the LoJack security system.
The MacBook Pro, valued at $2,500, was in a student's backpack that was stolen Oct. 29 near the Down Under Cafe in Argenta Hall, said UNR Detective Warren Conley.
"We're looking for the person in the photograph because we want to talk to him," he said. "He was in possession of the laptop at one time. He might have bought it from someone else or was looking to buy it, so we want to know who he got it from."
LoJack, a system used to trace stolen vehicles, also locate purloined computers.
"If the computer has a Web cam, once the computer's owner activates the LoJack security system, it takes a photograph of the next person who tries to use it," Conley said.
When a stolen computer with LoJack software connects to the Internet after a theft is reported, the location of the computer also is transmitted. The software has the ability to survive operating re-installations, hard-drive reformats and hard drive replacements, according to LoJack's Web site.
Conley said that once the system determines what server is supplying the Internet connection, "We send a subpoena saying we need the information on the account and we can track down the location."
The computer taken from the UNR cafe is somewhere in Dayton, Conley said.
Since Oct. 1, University of Nevada, Reno police have received reports of 22 grand larcenies, including the theft of four laptops valued at a total of more than $9,000.
"We had the theft of the laptop at the Down Under Cafe, two more were stolen from the Knowledge Center and one was stolen from Central Services where all the university mail comes in for distribution," Conley said.
One victim had left her laptop on one of the study desks at the Knowledge Center while she went to the restroom, and it was gone when she returned, he said. The laptop taken at the Down Under Cafe had been left in a backpack in a nearby stack of cubbies.
"The cubbies have metal loops that students can slip through their backpacks and they bring a lock to secure them so a thief can't grab it and run," Conley said. "But nobody locks them up."
http://www.rgj.com/article/20081210/...28/1004/NEWS01
