May 11, 2005

Police seek man for questioning in projector thefts

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University police are looking for a man they want to question in connection with the recent theft of three projectors from campus classrooms.

The man is described as a white male between the ages of 28 and 40 with thinning, gray hair. He is approximately 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 230 pounds. When last seen, the man was wearing rectangular reading glasses, a gray hooded sweatshirt and dark pants.

Purdue police Lt. Fred V. Davis said the man was seen at about 12:30 a.m. Monday (May 9) in the Materials and Electrical Engineering Building and the Physics Building.

"We want to question this person because he was seen in several classrooms," Davis said. "When employees in the Physics Building attempted to ask him why he was there, the man ran from the building toward the Northwestern Avenue parking garage."

Davis said police believe the man may have information about three ceiling-mounted Sharp projectors, valued at $12,000 each, stolen on April 28 or April 29 from classrooms in the Recitation Building. In that case, the thief unplugged the power cables, cut the chains and pried off the security plates to remove the projectors.

Similar projectors are located in the classrooms where the man being sought for questioning reportedly was seen on Monday (May 9).

Anyone with information about this person or the projector thefts should call the Purdue Police Department at (765) 494-8221.

Writer: Brian Zink, (765) 494-2080, bzink@purdue.edu

Source: Lt. Fred V. Davis, (765) 494-8221

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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