Two former Duke students and one University of Maryland at College Park student were sentenced Friday for their roles in stealing more than $16,000 worth of audiovisual equipment and computers from the University last March and April, according to The Herald-Sun of Durham.
Charles Jeremy Kelley, 22, pleaded guilty in Durham County Superior Court to five counts of misdemeanor larceny and one count of felonious larceny. The former Duke student was given five back-to-back suspended jail sentences for the misdemeanors and a continued prayer for judgment on the felony offense, which would all be activated if Kelley commits another crime. He was also fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 300 hours of unpaid community service work.
Former Duke student Susan Webber Stone, 22, pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor larceny and one count of felonious larceny, and given three back-to-back suspended jail sentences for the misdemeanors and a continued prayer for judgment on the felony--a special ruling which basically means Stone will receive a lenient sentence, but that the crime could be taken into consideration for sentencing for a future conviction. Stone was also fined $3,000 and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service.
John Jay Alexander, 22 and a former Maryland student, pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor larceny and was given a 45-day suspended jail sentence. He also was fined $1,000 and ordered to work 200 hours.
All three students, who were expelled from their respective institutions, are also required to pay Duke $16,303.88 in restitution.
The items, which around the time of the thefts were estimated at over $100,000, included equipment from the Bryan Center's Shaefer Theater and the newly constructed White Lecture Hall.
Video surveillance captured the students April 7 during the White Hall incident. Duke University Police Department officials said DUPD received many phone calls the day The Chronicle printed pictures of the three suspects. The two Duke students, after interviews with DUPD officers, confessed to stealing the property and identified Alexander.
Some of the stolen equipment was being stored in Kelley's and Alexander's rooms.
The thefts nearly caused the cancellation of at least one production in the Bryan Center. The stolen equipment was essential to Mao II, a play that was set to premiere in Shaefer, and had to be replaced prior to the recovery of the equipment. Frank Lentricchia, professor of literature and the play's dramaturg told The Chronicle in April that the play's crew had been working for two years on the production's music and lights, information about which were lost in the thefts.
"This equipment was totally essential to putting this show up. It is a very technical show, and there was sound and light work that had been inputted," Lentricchia said. "A lot of people didn't sleep and suffered real emotional damage with this."
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