A break-in at the WIXQ radio station, which apparently occurred during Christmas break, was recently discovered by a station employee.

Nelson Kepperling, consulting engineer for WIXQ, came to the station, located on the ground floor of the Student Memorial Center (SMC), on Friday afternoon, Jan. 3, to re-install a transmitter that had been out for repair over break. Kepperling found that speaker wires in the main office had been cut, and that someone apparently had gained access to the AM studio by removing a door panel. He also found that a speaker wire in the AM studio had been cut.

"The way we discovered it was when I went to do my test (of the transmitter), I found that none of our monitors worked, so I thought we had a problem with some of the equipment," Kepperling said. When he checked the monitor speakers, he found that wires had been cut. He believes that nothing of substantial value was taken.

"The only thing that was really taken were parts of cables with plug adaptors on the end," he added.

Dr. Ralph Anttonen, WIXQ advisor, said he had been at the station the day before but had noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

"I came down just to sort all the mail that I knew was here from Christmas - came in the main office, did my mail sorting, and left - and didn't even look around. I didn't notice anything, but then I wasn't looking for anything either," Anttonen said.

After Kepperling notified him of the break-in, Anttonen contacted campus security.

"I called security immediately, and an investigating officer came down to talk to us," Anttonen said. He added that no evidence of forcible entry into the building was found. "We feel that it might have been an inside job," he added.

Anttonen believes the incident occurred between Christmas Eve and Jan. 3.

"We've narrowed it in as best as we can from Christmas Eve to when Nelson discovered it," said Anttonen. "I, as advisor, am extremely upset that someone would try to do this to the station."

According to Anttonen, damage was minimal, and the main expense to WIXQ was approximately $150 in labor costs for equipment repair.

Tom Casetta, WIXQ station manager, said he believes his office door lock had been "jimmied", but found nothing had been stolen.

"We haven't found anything that was actually taken out of the studio. They broke in for the purpose of being malicious," Casetta said, adding that someone had torn several pages in a directory in his office.

Wayne Silcox, director of university safety and security, said that although he has several suspects, the chance of solving the crime decreases with time. Silcox believes also that the incident happened over Christmas break.

"We're talking about a two or three week time span when it could've taken place," he said. Silcox added that the lack of fingerprints and other clues "makes it real difficult" to solve the case.

Robert Slabinski, general manager of Student Services Inc., the organization which operates the SMC, said, "I don't know of anyone that had access to the building that would not normally have access. There are many keys to the exterior of this facility."

"The police reported that there was nothing substantial taken," he added.

Slabinski said that, to his knowledge, no other incidents of this type have taken place at the SMC.

"We have been very fortunate and really continue to be very fortunate here at Millersville that the number of incidents like this are relatively few when compared to our sister institutions and, in fact, college campuses nationwide," he said.

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