*Updated 12:55 p.m. Nov. 29, 2010*

ultiple laptop thefts occurred on campus in the days leading up to and over Thanksgiving break, according to Public Safety Alerts sent to the campus community on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Sunday evening.

Three laptops and several electronic items were stolen from a university office between Sunday, Nov. 20 and Wednesday, Nov. 23.A university employee left an office area in the Car Barn at 11:05 a.m. on Sunday and returned on Monday at 10:20 a.m. to discover a laptop and several electronic items had been stolen from separate offices in that area, according to the Public Safety Alert. Force was used to gain entry into the offices and steal the items, according to Department of Public Safety investigators.

The Metropolitan Police Department is conducting an ongoing investigation.

Two more laptops were also stolen from student residences on Tuesday, Nov. 23 and Wednesday, Nov. 24.

One victim, a Harbin resident, left her laptop in a backpack in her room before going to sleep Monday night. She awoke the next morning to find the computer gone. A student in an Alumni Square apartment reported his laptop missing Nov. 23. He had been out of his apartment from10 p.m. Nov. 22 to 4 a.m. Nov. 23. In both cases the residences had been left unlocked.

A laptop was also stolen from a townhouse on the 1200 block of 37th Street on Saturday, Nov. 27..

At 4:46 p.m. the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the call of a neighbor who heard breaking glass and saw an unknown suspect in the backyard of the townhouse, according to Public Safety Alert. MPD discovered that a rear window had been broken out and the back door was closed but unsecured. The owner, who was not at home at the time of the incident, returned at 5 p.m. and confirmed that a laptop had been stolen. The victim was not a student.

The suspect is described as a black male wearing a brown jacket. MPD’s investigation is ongoing.

These burglaries are the latest in a series of thefts of unsecured laptops in areas on and off campus, including Lauinger Library and The Tombs, during the month of November. On Nov, 17, a laptop was also stolen from an unlocked dormitory in Darnall Hall while the resident was asleep.

According to DPS Associate Director Joseph Smith, 20 laptops, mostly Macs, have been stolen so far in November. DPS has previously urged students living off campus or in on-campus apartments or townhouses to keep their doors locked at all times, even when they are at home. Students living in on-campus residence halls are urged to lock their doors when they leave their rooms, even for a few minutes, and before they go to sleep.

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