Briefs

UT employee faces grand theft charges

By Times Staff Writer
Published November 21, 2004

TAMPA - A University of Tampa employee faces six counts of third-degree grand theft after Tampa police say they caught him taking $11,000 in university property.

David L. Kaplan, 36, was arrested at Plant Hall about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, according to a criminal affidavit.

Tampa police detectives Ruben Delgado and Richard O'Connor wrote that Kaplan removed two Gateway computers, three Gateway laptops and a Sanyo projector from Room 427. A night housekeeping supervisor, Kaplan was on duty when the theft occurred, according to the affidavit. In the past few months, there have been a number of computer thefts at the W Kennedy Boulevard campus, Lt. Sal Ruggiero said. The computers have a tracking system that, when activated, indicates where the user is logging on.

Police recently traced one of the computers to a St. Petersburg home, Ruggiero said, and the homeowner told police a former neighbor sold him the computer. The former neighbor, Ruggiero said, was Kaplan.

Kaplan, of 717 Second St. N in Safety Harbor, was being held in the county jail in lieu of $12,000 bail.

University spokesman Grant Donaldson could not be reached for comment.

[Last modified November 21, 2004, 00:15:26]