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Laptop thief's disguise: business casual
By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published April 25, 2007
TAMPA - Eric Almly tried to blend in. Before he walked into Outback Steakhouse's parent company, he slipped into a clean polo shirt and khakis, he told police. He spent the day hanging out in common areas at OSI Restaurant Partners. When closing time came, he stayed behind. He told police he grabbed 11 company laptops from cubicles, then took them back to his oceanfront condo on Miami Beach. There, he got online and sold the computers, he told police. "He just figured that a corporation like Outback would just kind of write it off, absorb the loss and move on from there," said Tampa police Detective Larry Brass. "He walked in, posed as a visitor and just mingled." That's what Almly told Tampa police when they showed up at his home Friday to arrest him on charges of theft. Almly, 33, was held Tuesday in a Miami jail. When police got word of the thefts, which occurred March 27 or 28, investigators wondered if it was the work of an insider. They found no sign of forced entry. The computers had been taken from the fifth floor of the corporate headquarters at 2202 West Shore Blvd.
[Last modified April 25, 2007, 01:02:12]
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by Pete
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04/25/07 11:55 PM
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But you have to admit, it was kind of genius. One time I stayed in the movie theatre bathroom overnight and the next it was nothing but free movies all day!
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by M
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04/25/07 04:31 PM
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What kind of person thinks they can just take what they want, and it just gets written off. We the tax payers, and patrons of these places pay one way or another. Sounds like he is not all there. I say looney farm not jail.
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by Missa
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04/25/07 03:59 PM
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Lucky that laptops is all he took, who knows what he could have done? What if he was a psycho killer? He just hung around the office all day? Unbelievable! I work in this building and it's really unerving!
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by ellen
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04/25/07 02:16 PM
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I wondered how many people had there personal information on these lap tops. Your personal information in probably on the black market by now. Please, look out for identity Theft; watch out for your credit cards, ss # and drivers License.
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by Dave
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04/25/07 09:17 AM
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Ocean front condo on Miami Beach????
What else has this guy stolen?
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by Dave
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04/25/07 09:06 AM
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Looks to me that Outback security needs to pay alittle more attention if something like this can happen. I too am curious to how they got him, probably tracked the sale of the laptops.
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by Hans
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04/25/07 08:29 AM
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So how exactly did they catch him? Video of him hanging out? Fingerprints? Traced the laptops sold? I'm really curious how he got away with just "hanging out" and staying there after they closed, then getting out with 11 laptops.
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by Carl
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04/25/07 07:22 AM
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He deserves nothing better than jail time. It takes a lot of nerve to walk into someones place of business and just take what you want.
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