The man whose tip to police lead to both the arrest of the former McKale Center employee who was arrested for burglary and to the indictment of his immediate family received formal recognition from the University of Arizona Police Department yesterday.
Greg Disney, owner of Tucson's Data Doctor, a computer repair shop, called police Oct. 29 after Clint Thompson brought in five computers and said he purchased them all for $1,000. Disney knew the computers are retailed at $2,300 each.
Although Thompson, 20, said he purchased the computers with cash from a local seller he found on eBay, he did not have a receipt to prove it, Disney said.
"(The deal) was way too good to be true," Disney said.
Disney reported the suspicious activity, and police discovered that the UA athletics department had reported the computers stolen in June.
Police went to Thompson's home and found the computers along with stolen items from McKale Center, including memorabilia autographed by Lute Olson, 20 pairs of Nike shoes, packaged athletic clothing, boxes of baseball bats and a camcorder.
Last month, Thompson and the four family members who lived with him were indicted for burglary, including Thompson's father, who was the associate director of Parking and Transportation Services.
UAPD awarded Disney for informing police about Thompson, which lead to his arrest and the four indictments with their "Partners in the Community" certificate.
"This is very refreshing for us and has benefited the community as a whole," said Chief of Police Anthony Daykin, as he presented the award.
Disney said at the time, he did not know his report would lead to recovering thousands of dollars worth of missing items.
"I had no idea at the time what would be recovered," he said.
Disney said sometimes individuals will come into his store and ask to trace what their spouse has been doing on the computer, but he said Thompson's requests were the most unusual.
Disney said Thompson wanted to clean out the hard drive on the password-protected computers and resell them.
Disney said he recalled a time when his car was broken into and his stereo was missing. Disney said after that experience, he knew how helpful reporting suspicious activity to police could be. Daykin said it is crucial for commun ty members to contact police with suspicious activity in a timely matter.
Tucson has population of about 500,000, and police cannot possibly witness every suspicious person who is involved in a crime, Daykin said.
Daykin said he hopes community members will follow Disney's lead in recognizing when a situation seems wrong.
Disney also received an award from the Dean of Students Office, a new way the university is recognizing individuals who perform a service to the UA. The award states, "Thank you for making a world of difference" and is signed by Melissa Vito, dean of students.
Disney said he would display the awards for customers to see when they are in his computer repair store.
"We want the community to know we're here for the long haul," Disney said. "I'll be proud to hang it up."