On July 20, 2013, Steve Romine of the Athletics Department arrived at his office in the Mitchell Athletic Center to find his monitor missing from his desk. Romine inspected other offices to find over $25,000 worth of Denison property missing from the building.
“There were 13 Denison owned laptops, three desktops, two monitors, and some cameras were taken. Also assorted personal property of staff was also taken,” said Head of Security Garret Moore.
The burglar was believed to be posing as a custodian the day before and swiped a master key set from the construction office in the lower level of Mitchell.
The next night with keys, radio and ID in hand, the suspect broke into the building, took what he could carry, and exited via the doors to the basketball court on the south side of the building. The suspect was captured on surveillance footage from the building’s camera system which directly resulted in his apprehension.
“The defendant’s name is Yusef Ali Mcleod, a 37 year old Columbus resident. None of the computers were found,” said Moore. However, other property taken in this incident and in a burglary from the week prior was found after a search of Mcleod’s vehicle.
Mcleod was arrested by the Granville Police with the assistance of Columbus PD in Columbus, Ohio. He paid his bond and was released from the Licking County Justice Center. Not long after, he was once again arrested as suspect to a burglary at Ohio Dominican University on July 30th. He is currently serving time.
Since the burglary at Denison, security has made changes to how master keys are managed with construction projects. “We might want to consider increasing the amount of surveillance equipment we have in Mitchell since the facility is so large,” said Moore.