Former MIT Student Admits To Theft, Auction of School Computers

A former MIT student pleaded guilty last week to mail fraud stemming from a scheme involving the sale of computers and other equipment stolen from MIT over the Internet auction site eBay.

Mark L. Strauss, 24, of Mesa, Arizona, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young to one felony count of mail fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.

Addressing the Court during the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanne M. Kempthorne said Strauss admitted to MIT police that, over an 18-month period, he stole computers, laboratory equipment and other items from MIT’s Chemical Engineering and Chemistry departments.

The investigation began when an MIT police officer was in the Department of Chemistry’s Building 18 taking a report on a stolen computer and a graduate student noticed that a similar computer was being offered for sale on eBay, said Robert J. Sales, associate director of the MIT News Office.

Police contacted the seller via e-mail and obtained his phone number, according to the MIT News Office.

MIT Police Officer Mark Kelleher spoke with the seller by phone several times and made a deal for the computer, which was estimated to be about $400.

The seller then agreed to deliver the property for inspection on March 20 at about 1 p.m.

On March 20, Kelleher, in plain clothes, met the seller, who turned out to be Strauss, and ascertained that the computer in question was the missing one from the Chemistry department.

Strauss was then arrested and arraigned in Cambridge District Court the following day.

According to MIT, police obtained a search warrant for Strauss’ room in the Zeta Psi fraternity on Mass. Ave. and seized $30,000-$40,000 worth of computers and computer equipment, which police allege Strauss had been selling on eBay.

According to Zeta Psi’s president, Matthew D. Aichele, Strauss was deregistered from the fraternity soon after he was charged with the theft.

Strauss, a member of MIT’s Class of 2002, was not registered for the spring term earlier this year and he now attends Arizona State University (ASU).

Administrators at ASU’s admissions office said that they were not aware of Strauss’ theft case before his application to ASU, and they refused to comment on whether Strauss will be forced to withdraw from the college due to his plea.

eBay’s Senior Director of Communications Kevin Pursglove said that though some cases involving stolen property do occur on the auction site, they are very rare.

“As eBay is a popular site, the level of activity is very high, so it would be hard to monitor such cases,” said Pursglove, who said the site’s personal contact discouraged would-be thieves from fencing the property on-line.

“eBay enables the buyer and seller to get in contact with each other [regarding a sale], so it’s very rare that stolen property is sold.”

For their part, an MIT police spokesperson refused to comment on what security measures had been taken after the incident to ensure that such thefts did not occur in the future.

Harvard’s Coordinator of Residential Computing Kevin S. Davis ’98 emphasized that at a large university like Harvard or MIT it is difficult to secure everything.

“Though security measures are in place like physically securing machines in public rooms, a university is an open place and any person can come in and steal unsecured [computers],” he said.

Judge Young scheduled sentencing for Jan. 2, 2003. Strauss could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and restitution to MIT.