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The Rice Thresher
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by Olivia Allison Thresher editorial staff Police arrested two Wiess seniors and a Sid alumnus Monday and charged them with stealing a flat-screen computer display from the Humanities Building. The accused pleaded not guilty to charges of burglary, a state jail felony, in court Wednesday. If they are found guilty, they could be sentenced to six months to two years in jail or at least be put on probation. All three were released after posting $5,000 bail. Their next court date is Sept. 27, Jay Jackson, the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, said. At about 10:15 p.m. Monday, a custodian in the Humanities Building reported that three subjects leaving Room 226 knocked her down after she saw them stealing the monitor. About 15 minutes later, Campus Police Cpl. Alex Adames arrested Wiess College seniors Scott Byer and Francisco Padua as they left Duncan Hall. A custodian working in Duncan said he saw the three standing on a table attempting to remove a video projector from the ceiling in a room, and they were leaving because he saw them. One of the subjects gave Adames permission to search his vehicle. The monitor was found in a backpack in the vehicle. Adames attempted to approach the third subject, Christian Martinez (Sid Richardson College '00), but he ran away from her. Officer Stephen Reiter began chasing Martinez but was unable to catch him. Martinez was apprehended about 20 minutes later in the garden of a residence north of campus, where a prowler had been reported. Campus Police Chief Bill Taylor said officers collected substantial evidence supporting the charges, including fingerprints from the projector and monitor and shoeprints from the table in Duncan Hall where the subjects were allegedly standing while trying to remove the projector from the ceiling. The custodian working in Duncan Hall, who also works in Sewall, told Adames he thought he recognized the suspects from an incident a few months ago in Sewall Hall, when he saw subjects standing on a ladder to remove a projector from the ceiling. He said he did not report them because he thought they were fixing the equipment, but the projector was gone the next day. Both Taylor and Adames said the three subjects arrested Monday are suspects in the thefts of video projectors from Sewall Hall reported Dec. 20, Jan. 24 and April 6. Taylor also said it is possible the subjects are connected to the theft of speakers worth $4,000 that were reported stolen from Keck Hall March 24 and equipment reported stolen from the Language Resource Center July 11. Police sent the evidence to the Harris County Sheriff's Office to analyze whether the fingerprints on the remnants of stolen projectors match the fingerprints of the suspects, along with the evidence collected Monday. Campus Police Sgt. Les Hulsey said although they have marked the tests as high-priority, it could be several weeks before results are known. "It is only speculative right now, but there is a good possibility these subjects are involved," Taylor said. "It's not unusual to have just a few people cause a lot of problems on the campus." Adames said Martinez had run from police officers in the past "for no apparent reason," and some officers were familiar with him. Padua's Web site (http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~spider) also mentions running from police officers. "This below is a typical sight of my boys and I trying to outrun the police," one page of the site states, above an animated police vehicle chasing a person on a motorcycle. The site continues, "of course, we never get caught ... never ...". Taylor said he does not believe the incident will change how the buildings are locked at night. "We've got to keep these facilities available for those that will use them correctly, and even if we have card readers, it doesn't prevent this from happening," Taylor said. Byer is a member of the track and cross country teams. Jon Warren, assistant track and cross country coach, could not comment on disciplinary action against Byer because the coaches were unaware that Byer had been arrested in connection with the incident.
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