UCLA campus police are asking for the public's help in finding the person who stole dozens of MacBook Pro laptops Saturday morning from the Charles E. Young Research Library on campus, officials said Monday.
Police Tuesday said a man in his 20s who claimed to be a student has been detained for questioning. Detectives said he had some property that leads them to believe that he was involved in the burglary.
The thief smashed three windows and hammered through a door to get inside the equipment loan room, where the 55 laptops – worth about $33,000 – were stored, campus police said.
"Somebody had to know that location. It's clear from what we've seen so far and what we've heard that it seemed to be the suspect's intent to go to that location," UCLA Police Lt. Mark Littlestone said.
The MacBook Pros are clearly labeled as UCLA property and were lent to students working in the library.
Surveillance footage shows the man entering the library at 2:26 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, he is seen leaving the equipment loan room, carrying a suitcase and a shoulder bag.
He is described as a white man about 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a medium build. He was wearing UCLA sweatpants and blue running shoes.
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The person in question was wearing the same distinctive blue tennis shoes as a man wanted for a Sept. 28 burglary of laptops from UCLA's Ackerman Student Union, police said.
The equipment loan room at the Charles E. Young Library is closed, library officials said. Anyone with information about the suspect or the crime is asked to contact UCLA police at 310- 825-1491.
