Thief down the hall

To summarize:

Yesterday morning, a senior manager had his work laptop stolen plus its docking station and set of keys, containing car, house and work related buildings ripped off his desk. He just stepped out of his office for probably less than 1/2 hr. or so.

His office is only 2 doors down from my dept. Myself and other staff were working in our shared office at that time. During the heist, all offices around his, were occupied with employees working at their desks/computers. Receptionist said she saw a strange guy disguised in hard hat and jacket, walk in, made no eye contact with her but headed down hall.

Then later during same morning, another theft occurred just 1 km. away. An employee had her wallet stolen.

The police have a suspect in custody. They traced suspect through his immediate use of credit card from stolen wallet. Search warrant now on car..etc.

Lesson: Phone police immediately, immediately cancel access to cards, etc.

Maybe your building needs a receptionist :confused:

I'm accustomed to working in a federal office in D.C.
Even the employees were lucky to get in.

My office is only accessible by badge - kind of gives you a warm fuzzy feeling when wallets go missing. How nice, stealing from coworkers. :rolleyes:

I work at a construction site..suffice to say there are all sorts of exits and these are temporary buildings with simple set-ups.

I have worked for several previous employers in office buildings where they occupied multiple floors with card access...still problems especially when firm is big and one doesn't know everyone.

Problems of laptop ripoffs, etc. during the day also. One firm used to occasionally post digital images of thieves getting into our premises..and email across entire firm: "Do you recognize this person?"

Another employer was the court itself where a judge had his laptop ripped out of the wall. There were construction crews about ..

And I could never get the time, I was working in my area...a library for a major law firm, and talking to another library employee..then suddenly this strange guy breezed through the library..we had to alert security. Also a place with card access.

The suspect in the latest heist does not work for us.

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Originally Posted by Zen

Maybe your building needs a receptionist :confused:

I'm accustomed to working in a federal office in D.C.
Even the employees were lucky to get in.

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LOL. I work at a federal courthouse and can totally relate!

I can't believe some people.. I have worked in many different facilities and and every building I have been in things have been stolen. Most people keep their purses or wallets locked in their cars.

This has been happening at my work too. And I'm in a secure federal building. Not a fun time. I lock my office door everytime I step out. And lock myself out on a semi-regular basis. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Possegal

This has been happening at my work too. And I'm in a secure federal building. Not a fun time. I lock my office door everytime I step out. And lock myself out on a semi-regular basis. :)

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I can't believe it happens in souch a secure environment. I work in a nursing home so there are all sorts of people that have access to the offices.

As the economy tanks, this kind of crime will only get worse.

Karen

It happened several times last year at my mom's school - and just recently in a series of gyms in my area, including mine - where a clean-looking thief (or team of thieves) was able to talk themselves past the receptionist. :(

I worked in an uber secure federal site (select agents) and someone's wedding ring was stolen off her lab bench... okay, it was stupid to put it there, but still...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

and just recently in a series of gyms in my area, including mine - where a clean-looking thief (or team of thieves) was able to talk themselves past the receptionist. :(

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Trust no one.
The thief could easily have been a gym member. I can't believe how many people leave their belongings in an unlocked locker. That can be very tempting

In the nursing home where I work someone stole some of the gifts for the residents.

Oof. One year we had a Toys for Tots drive, someone stole donated toys. Lower than the lowest!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by solobiker

In the nursing home where I work someone stole some of the gifts for the residents.

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Yes, people kept taking my sick mother's little cheap $15 walkmans in a hospital AND a nursing home- the only way she could hear her beloved classical music when I wasn't there. I think I had to buy about 4 of them before she got transferred to a nursing home near me where it didn't happen.
Can you imagine how creepy some people are, to take the one little cheap thing that brings pleasure to a sick helpless frightened old person?

I grew up in NYC, where you don't leave anything lying around even for a minute or it's likely to be gone. Now I live in a rural friendly small town where I always get laughed at for obsessively locking up my bike. Oh well! :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zen

Trust no one.
The thief could easily have been a gym member. I can't believe how many people leave their belongings in an unlocked locker. That can be very tempting

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I agree and I always lock my locker - but in this case, they weren't members. I guess they were pursued more seriously because of the car thefts. They were arrested a couple of weeks ago after pulling the same stunt in five or six gyms across the region.

But yeah, as far as purse thefts from the gyms, it happens pretty regularly. Also people breaking into cars outside the gyms. The car is about the last place I'd be willing to leave my purse.