Two suspects in the January thefts of computers from Robinson Hall were indicted by the Grafton County Superior Court last week.
Thirty-year-old Andrew James Gravina of North Haverville, New Hampshire, has been charged with breaking into Robinson on both Jan. 14 and Jan. 19, as well as the theft of five Macintosh computers from the building. He currently incarcerated and will be arraigned this Thursday, at which time his bail will be set.
Nineteen-year-old Ross Duhaime of Lebanon, NH, has been accused only of the Jan. 19 break-in and theft, which included four computers. He will be arraigned April 19, but has not yet been incarcerated.
Assistant County Attorney Mike Bielarski, the case prosecutor, said he is confident that the State of New Hampshire has enough evidence to convict both suspects.
"We wouldn't have indicted them if we hadn't thought so," he exlained.
Gravina and Duhaime will be represented by defense attorneys Claude Buttray and Tony Hutchins. The judge has not yet been appointed.
The jury selection for Gravina is scheduled to take place on June 5 and for Duhaime on Sept. 11, and dates for their subsequent trials will be set at that time.
Since the theft involved property valued over $1,000, it is labeled by the State of New Hampshire as a Class A felony. Therefore, if convicted, each suspect could be sentenced to as many as 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $4,000.
A total of five computers, including two iMacs, one of which had been purchased the same week, were stolen, along with a printer and a telephone.
Although all of the stolen equipment has not yet been recovered, the Hanover Police detectives still investigating the thefts remain optimistic.
"We are still holding out hope," Chief of Police Nick Giaconne said.
Unfortunately, even the recovered items cannot yet be returned to the College for use by student organizations. According to Giaconne, they are "still being retained as evidence" in the case.
Despite the missing equipment however, Student Activities Director Linda Kennedy is satisfied with the indictments.
"I am glad to hear that they will be going through the court system," she said of the suspects.
According to Kennedy, security has been tightened in order to discourage illegal activity of this kind in the future.
"We've made some changes to the security system," Kennedy said, although she declined to describe them in detail, adding that if the recent innovations were made public the building "would not be as secure."
The thefts occurred on three separate instances during the week of Jan. 17 from the student publications office and Student Assembly Office on the first floor of Robinson.
