Campus security hiked due to thefts
After eight projectors and one laptop computer were stolen this summer, TCU police are going to implement a new security system.
By Jill Meninger
Staff Reporter

Projectors removed from classrooms after a series of summer thefts will be re-installed with a new security system in two to three weeks, said Kelly Ham, a TCU Police detective.

Eight projectors and one laptop, worth about $72,000, were stolen from academic buildings, said Larry Kitchens, the director of the center for instructional services. The eight projectors were recovered.

On a recommendation from TCU Police, Kitchens said the university removed projectors from every building except in Dan Rogers Hall, Tandy Hall and the Tucker Technology Center.

J. C. Williams, assistant TCU police chief, said the new security system will be effective in two ways: an alarm will notify the TCU police if someone attempts to remove a projector and the new system will secure them so that they will be difficult to remove and possibly unusable if tampered with.

Williams said other security procedures, such as officers patrolling the campus and buildings, will remain the same.

Ham said a 26-year-old male was arrested Aug. 2 in connection with the thefts and is still in custody.

Joshua Scott Wilder, a white male from Garland was caught on tape by one of the Sodexho Marriott’s security cameras outside Reed Hall, Ham said. He said the Wylie Police Department has charged Wilder with theft between $20,000 and $100,000. Ham said there are still multiple theft and burglary charges pending against Wilder by other agencies. Ham and Williams said they are still investigating the case because more people could be involved.

Ham said the laptop and a projector were stolen from the Sid W. Richardson Building on July 22 between noon and 1 p.m. He said the suspect came back at 11:07 p.m. to Reed Hall he was caught on videotape. He said the projectors were all attached to the ceiling and it took only about 30 seconds for Wilder to take them down. He said four projectors had been stolen from Reed Hall and three had been stolen from Bass Hall.

Ham said the projectors that were recovered were from Garland, Wylie, Texas Woman’s University, TCU, Plano and Grand Prairie.

“The cameras all appear to be in good shape so they can be re-used,” Ham said.

Ham further reported that after the theft here, the superintendent of the Grand Prairie School District wrote in an e-mail that someone had been posing as a video technician with fake work orders and was stealing projectors from one of their schools.

Officer M. Dawson of the Plano Police Department recovered the laptop computer in a raid, Ham said. Information from that raid led police Officer James Bunger of the Wylie Police Department to investigate the case because four projectors had been stolen from the Wylie School District.

Ham said Bunger staked out the electronic store Amigo Electronics after Dawson gave him some information regarding the case. Bunger caught Wilder going into the electronic store with the projectors. A search warrant was executed July 30 and over 100 projectors were recovered at the electronic store, Ham said.

Kitchens said the possible suspects were well organized and had a van that said they were contractors on it.
Because of all the construction, Kitchens said there were people on campus not normally here.

He said thieves took projectors from the Sid W. Richardson Building and Winton-Scott Hall because of the renovations but not out of the summer school classrooms.

Kitchens said a serial port was recovered in Wilder’s car. The serial port plugged into one of the video projectors that matched with a TCU projector, and this further proved that Wilder was the man on the Marriott videotape.

Kitchens said this is not the first time projectors have been stolen from TCU. He said there were a couple of projectors stolen over a 2-year period: one was stolen last summer because of the construction going on and one was stolen from Winton-Scott Hall last May because a room was left unlocked.