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OGDEN — A break-in at a school in Ogden may have put the personal information of patients and students in jeopardy.
Around 12:58 early Sunday morning, two men broke into the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind Ogden campus, and several offices and workspaces were damaged between then and 4:30 a.m. The men, who police say seemed to know the layout of the campus, combing through personal files that were locked away in the Education Resource Center, Deaf/Blind Services, the Administration Offices, Human Resources, as well as the Information Tech Center.
School officials and police are concerned that the men were after personal files of students for information that could facilitate identity theft.
"I think when you have vulnerable children, and we do have very special children, their information is contained in the records and I think that they would be an easy target for identity theft," said Office Specialist Meg Kallas, who discovered the break-in.
Kallas was the first to work Sunday morning. Her desk had been rummaged through, and says she could tell the thieves had been after student/neonatal patient files.
Since the break-in the school has been informing the families that may have had information compromised. The Associate Superintendent says it's been a frustrating way to start the new school year.
"This is a school for the deaf and the blind, we have kids that have disabilities here," Associated Superintendent Carolyn Lasater said. "How could anybody really choose our school to do something like this?"
The school suffered about $4,000 in damage to windows and doors, in addition to a few laptops that were taken. They are updating their security system as a result.
In the meantime, they ask if anyone recognizes the men in the photos that they call Ogden Police, who are also using surveillance videos to identify the person responsible.
