Security camera footage from the College of Science shows a man last spring removing a tool from his pocket, picking a lock in a file cabinet holding tests and using his phone to photograph documents.
A report from the Weber State Police Department describes in detail the burglary that took place in April leading to a security breach compromising students and faculty passwords as well as tests in the Chi Tester system.
Former Weber State student Joseph Langford faces a charge of burglary in the case. He made his first court appearance Tuesday in Ogden’s Second District Court.
Langford’s attorney Mark Arnold stood with him as he appeared in front Judge Scott Hadley in Ogden’s Second District court. Hadley set a preliminary hearing for Sept. 30.
Weber State University sent out an email to students and faculty making them aware of the security breach. In August, Chi Tester support warned faculty that some tests may have been compromised in the breach.
According to the police report, while reviewing security cameras in the science lab Sgt. Seth Cawley observed a student remove a tool from his pocket, open a file cabinet and photograph what appeared to be university tests.
Cawley identified the student based on a similar method of operation that occurred in a case involving a stolen camera earlier in the year. The charges in that case were dropped.
After an arrest, Cawley obtained a warrant to search the student’s phone. The phone search revealed pictures of tests from a science class.
The phone search also revealed screen shots of personal user names and passwords of a professor. The information was allegedly used to steal credit card information, according to the police report.
The Weber County Attorney’s Office informed Cawley that they had struck a deal with the student that would potentially reduce charges in exchange for the student telling them the extent of what information they compromised.
The student said they used a device put on the back of the computers in science labs to get keystrokes of usernames and passwords to access information.
The student claimed he and his wife destroyed all stolen information in an effort to help him fix his life.
The student said he first wanted to find out if he could pick locks and see what information he could get with stolen information. This eventually led to him trying to get his organic chemistry test since he was struggling with the class.
The student claims he was able to access the janitor’s closet and steal the master key, which gave him access to every room in the Science Lab.
The university said security measures have been put into place to prevent this type of incident from happening again.
