A man suspected of stealing computers last year from Burlington College after it had closed down will not face criminal prosecution, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said.
Federal authorities are continuing to investigate a land deal brokered by former Burlington College president Jane O’Meara Sanders, the wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). News of that investigation broke last week, and has led to renewed interest in the unsolved burglary.
Police responded to a break-in at the college that occurred on either July 24 or July 25. It was two months after the school had closed due to financial difficulties stemming in part from the purchase of its North Avenue campus.
There was no sign of forced entry and the door had likely been left unlocked, Burlington police officers said in an affidavit. Additionally, someone had disabled security cameras.
Several offices had been vandalized, and water had been poured on some computer servers. “In numerous offices, items were tipped over and damaged,” police records say. “Computer monitors and computers were thrown about the rooms.”
The college’s main server, roughly 15-20 Macintosh computers and the school’s Ford van were missing. Some records of students from Israel had been taken as well.
A college representative told police that “several things were odd about the burglary,” the records say. “She stated she felt like an individual would have to know the keys to the van were kept in her office in order to locate the keys.”
On July 26, police in Troy, N.Y. found the missing van after it crashed through a fence. They arrested Brett H. Seglem, who had allegedly been driving, according to police documents. Passengers in the van told police that they met Seglem in nearby Albany and he offered to drive them to Philadelphia. In the van, he bragged to them that he had stolen the vehicle and computers from Burlington College, according to police documents.
The computers were found inside the crashed van, along with some Burlington College banners. But the server was not recovered, according to police documents.
Police found a sign that read, “Traveling Broke & Hungry.”
In an interview, del Pozo said that the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office twice declined to prosecute Seglem for the alleged burglary, citing a lack of evidence.
Reached in New Jersey, Seglem’s mother, Joanne Seglem, told Seven Days that her son is a drug addict who has struggled for years. She declined to discuss the case. Brett Seglem could not be located for comment.
An associate of Seglem’s told police that he had been squatting last summer in an unused college building in the Burlington area, according to the affidavit.
VTDigger.org first reported details of the burglary in September.
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Lack of evidence? He was driving the stolen van with the computers inside it.
To add to Kevin’s point – he admitted to his passengers that he stole the equipment. And why would he take the files for just the Israeli students and the mainframe? And why weren’t those items in the van? And why did it take the Troy judge two weeks to issue a search warrant for the van? And…and…and…
Sounds like a Hillary-Pass to me.
Just like the one Janey is going to get too.
Verrrry interesting that crashing a stolen college owned van, filled with college owned property, and with two witnesses present in the van, constitutes a “lack of evidence”. Very creative police work! Is Seglem getting a free pass out of sympathy for his drug addiction, or because of a broader cover up?
Maybe the Israeli students were Mossad agents (or Mossad stepped in on their behalf), hence the disappearance of records, dropping of charges, cover up, sweep this fishy case under the rug…
The guy has a drug addiction and probably mental illness. Since he didn’t kill or harm anyone I suspect the judge and the prosecutor decided to hell with it because it would cost more money to prosecute somebody that’s mentally ill so it wouldn’t be worth it. He wouldn’t get any jail time for all their efforts anyway because of his mental illness. At least any defending lawyer who is worth his salt would say that .
Still think there’s more to this fishy case..like knowing certain persons??? Do they even know what evidences mean??? Let’s see, I’m not a police officer, lawyer or judge..but I’m not stupid..ok he stole the computer’s, files, the van, destroyed property at the College..but no charges because of no evidence..all because he is a drug addict and maybe mental illness.. so this means anyone can steal, destroy and maybe murder someone and cry drug addict and maybe mental illness and get away with it..Wow..only in Vermont…Strange that the college would be left unlocked with all those things in the building.. but what do I know I’m just a honest citizen, who if had done this , would had been charged and thrown in prison..
Another interesting detail here is the erroneous conclusion that a door with no sign of damage or forced entry must therefore equal a door that was left unlocked. No mention by the detectives of the possibility that the lock was picked? Whoever was sophisticated enough to know how to disable the cameras, trace the video feed to its source to be able to disable that too, locate and take files on Israeli students and take a server, was probably able to pick a lock too. Or maybe it was just a former employee, who had a key to the building. Why has the former IT guy at the college not been interviewed for this story?
there is no proof he was driving, no proof he stole the computers, no proof he spoke to the passengers, no proof he was really in albany, no proof he wasnt an astral projection, no proof he is who he says he is, no proof he is a russian spy, no proof he is human, but
he is an alien from mars
he was in ny on 911
he really is Michael Flynn
He was born in north korea
good times
I wish 7 Days would do a better job with the investigative reporting. How about making some calls, getting some quotes, maybe digging into the story a little bit. The Burlington College land grab was between Jane Sanders, the real estate agents on the college’s board and a third party or two. This robbery/vandalism thing is such a small piece of the puzzle. Get on the ball, Mark Davis.