Looking
Back:
Ladies
Basketball
In Review
Pages 8-9
Suspect believed to be involved in
library thefts tried to sell stolen laptop
back to the victim.
James O’Neill
Staff Writer
Page 6
Keepin’ It
Cool At the
NIGHT
Hothouse:
Campus police arrested a suspect in connection
with a series of library thefts after a sting operation
last Thursday.
Police drove onto campus in a white SUV and
removed Henry Young from the vehicle. Young was
arrested for selling a stolen Apple iMac Laptop back
to library theft victim De Hau Xu in a sting opera¬
tion by campus police at a McDonalds restaurant
located at 716 Fair Oaks Drive in South Pasadena.
“It is not known whether he is related to the other
recent thefts,” said Lt. Brad Young (no relation).
“While studying in the library with a friend, I got
a call, and since it was the library I stepped outside
to talk and smoke," said Xu. “Then my friend fol¬
lowed, asking a female student to watch my laptop.
I came back in five minutes, and it was gone”
According to librarians, thefts of this type occur
on the average of once a day in the library.
The thefts have gotten so bad “the workers are
overwhelmed,” she said referring to the recent
increase in what some students are calling “gypsy¬
like” thefts at the library.
These thefts occur with two or more people,
where one to distracts the student, and the other lifts
his wallet or snatches a backpack.
The suspect is accused of buying the stolen laptop
at an independent electronics store where he works.
While searching through the laptop, he said he
found the identity of the PCC student, who he then
proceeded to contact in hopes of selling him back
his stolen property.
“The suspect, after having knowledge the laptop
was stolen, then proceeded to sell it back to the vic¬
tim for the sum of $475, which is a felony,” said Lt.
Young.
After coming in contact with the suspect via
email, Xu scheduled to meet with him to make a
deal for the computer. The victim contacted campus
police, who then spent two days investigating the
matter.
At noon on March 8, campus police planned an
undercover strategy with Xu to intercept the transac¬
tion. Undercover officer Jose Arechiga, who was
dressed in civilian clothing, watched the transaction
while wearing a recording device.
“Xu proceeded to give officer Arechiga a signal
when he identified the stolen laptop was his,”
according to officer Steven Matchan, who was also
involved in the sting. “That’s when the suspect was
arrested.”
The library staff wants to have a cadet stationed at
the library to help with the increasing theft prob¬
lems. “We’re librarians, not law enforcement,” said
Remachandran.
“We still want people to come here and study, it’s
a beautiful library” said librarian Hemalatha
Ramachandran.
There is no current evidence to indicate that the
suspect is directly involved with the rash of other
thefts in the library.
Kris Calhon
/
Courier
PCC police officers Steven Matchan and Jose Arechiga (in civilian clothing) handcuff the library theft suspect.
What’s Up With Financial Aid?
Nathan Solis
Flipside Editor
Going into the fifth week of the spring
semester, more than a thousand students on
financial aid have not received any of their
checks, leaving one question on all the stu¬
dent’s minds: Where’d the money go?
Christian Perez, a nursing major, has not
received his financial aid check. He has com¬
plained countless times to the financial aid
offices, but he was always told to be patient.
Perez was told that the delay was caused by
a new computer system.
“I wanted to know if I should enroll for
the next semester or not, because I’m
dependent on the money. I was told that I
could expect the check,” said Perez, one of
many students who never did receive his
money. Because of this, Perez was forced to
drop two of his classes and move out of his
apartment. “This is a lot of stress for me. I’m
not getting a straight answer,” said Perez,
who was told that the school was working on
fixing the new computer system, which was
installed last September.
The previous program that processed all
the FAFSA applications was an older com¬
puter system that checked information mul¬
tiple times. With this program, errors were
treated before being applied to the student
body. In order to combat FAFSA fraud, the
new system is not allowed to send informa¬
tion more than once. This means that when
problems occur, they have to be dealt with
in real time at the expense of student’s time
and effort.
“The process is not flawed,” said Kim
Miles, assistant dean of financial aid and
scholarships. “With any type of conversion
there are learning curves.”
Miles said that the program, called Finan¬
cial Aid Management Education (FAME),
“requires some business changes in the prac¬
tices, as well as understanding the function¬
ality of the process we used to have."
The financial aid offices are working
closely with school technicians to resolve the
situation.
“It’s not an easy process,” said Dale
Pittman, director of management informa¬
tion services. The disbursement process
See ‘Financial Aid’ - Page 2
The Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915
Volume 95, Issue 4
Suspect Arrested In Off-
Campus Sting Operation
