Rolls of copper, hand tools, brand-new tube cutting machines and other items totalling about $10,000, were stolen from the Construction Technology area in the northern part of the campus near the baseball field in January, Jim Sims, plumbing instructor, said.

“It happened in the third week in January, but I found out weeks later by the maintenance department,” Sims said. “They were surprised I didn’t know.”

Carl Turano, a stock clerk in the shipping and receiving warehouse, said he discovered that somebody had stolen the items when he went in for work at 5:30 a.m. in the morning in January.

“When I came in, the gate was undone, there were wheelbarrows around, and the little sheds back there were emptied out,” Turano said.

Among the other things listed, Sims said a tankless water heater was stolen.

“Of all the things they could have stolen, they stole the most expensive things,” Sims said. “It was certain things that they took.”

Both Sims and Turano said that whoever committed the theft used the wheelbarrows located in the area to cart out the stolen items to the nearby road.

“They took the time to take the tarp we use to shield the students from the sun and wrap it around the building to block the light out while they were stealing the stuff,” Sims said.

The budget of the Construction Technology Division had to be moved around, with materials from other classes going toward the plumbing class, which may effect other classes down the way.

“We have to look at what was stolen and how much of it was school property,” Stephanie Rodriguez, dean of construction technology, said.  “We prioritized what exactly was needed to teach the class so we didn’t lose any class time out of it.”

“Copper is the one thing in the budget that we need,” Sims said.  “I’m just disheartened.  My students want to learn to solder copper and without those materials, we can’t do that.”

Turano and Sims both questioned the security in the northern part of the campus, an area largely devoid of students at certain times of the day.

“It’s a plain joke around here that people could come here and steal stuff. Where was our police department when this was going on?” Turano asked.