A man wanted for stealing computers from Iowa State University and peddling them on the Internet auction site E-Bay continues to elude prosecutors. ISU police captain Gene Deisinger says the sale of some of the stolen laptop computers was traced to 37-year-old Curtis Paul of Onawa, and officers went to his home there. Unfortunately he says it appeared Paul had left, so the court issued an arrest warrant, in the theft of several stolen laptops from the ISU campus — and Deisinger adds they’ve found evidence that he’s dealt in some computers stolen from Des Moines, as well. Several people apparently bought the stolen computers on E-Bay, and Deisinger says their fate is in limbo for now. They’re still working it out between the Story County Attorney, campus police and people who bought the computers, whether they’ll simply lose them or, ir Paul’s found and convicted, whether he might pay someone back. Meantime, the missing computers left users on the Iowa State campus data-less. Many of them were very good pieces of equipment, and many people lost significant research and some important documents. Deisinger says there’s no way of knowing yet whether Paul’s computer thefts extend byond Ames and Des Moines, but the investigation’s continuing not only in the state but over the Internet, where several important clues have come through E-Bay and people who bought the computers and found ISU programs and identification on them.
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