Thieves take $20K in equipment from stadium

Published 11:00 pm Monday, September 26, 2011

Troy University police believe someone with internal access to the stadium is behind the theft of more than $20,000 in electronics equipment this weekend.

Chief John McCall said athletics department employees discovered the equipment missing Monday morning from the Stadium Tower fifth floor offices.

“We definitely think we’re dealing with somebody internal, whether it’s an employee or somebody who got an employees key,” he said. “The offices were locked behind them.”

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Rickey Hazel, sports information director said the burglary took place sometime between 9 p.m. Sunday and 8:30 a.m. Monday.

“It was obviously someone with access to the offices,” Hazel said. “There were no signs of breaking and entering.”

The offices victimized included the media control room, press box, home radio booth and work room, as well as Hazel’s personal office.

The vandals took laptops, video cameras, mixer boards, and the university’s web streaming equipment, Hazel said. Also stolen were personal items from Hazel’s desk.

According to Hazel, graduate assistant Matt Mays discovered the equipment was missing around 8:30 a.m. Monday when he came the office to gather the electronics needed for the weekly football press conference.

“Obviously, they knew where to look,” he said. “They took mostly what they could carry out with little effort.”

McCall said his officers had dusted for fingerprints and were studying surveillance video from the stadium for clues. “We’re still in the beginning stages of the investigation,” he said.

Stacy Graning contributed to this report.