Man held in thefts from Auraria lockers

Police credit instructor with suspect's arrest

Marilyn Robinson, Special to the Rocky

Published October 31, 2007 at midnight

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He showered almost every morning in the physical education building at the Auraria Higher Education Center.

Sometimes Matthew Cooper was spotted dozing in other campus buildings. He could easily have been a college student, but he wasn't.

Now Cooper, 22, faces a host of charges in a series of locker thefts at the campus near downtown Denver.

"He was pretty clever,' " said Detective Jason Mollendor, of the Auraria campus police.

One of the theft victims, a campus instructor who asked police not to identify him, proved to be the thief's downfall.

The staff member's credit card was stolen along with other items from his locker. Mollendor said the victim discovered that his card had been used to order an Apple iPhone.

The victim found out when the phone was to be delivered to his home then asked his neighbors to keep an eye out. They watched as a man walked up and down the street. Then they saw a Fed Ex truck drive by. The victim and his neighbors discovered that the man had stopped the delivery truck on the corner and that the driver had given him the package.

One neighbor photographed the man with the iPhone, and the victim e-mailed those pictures to Mollendor.

The photos were distributed to Auraria officers, and one remembered taking a theft report from the suspect in May on a missing computer, Mollendor said.

Cooper is suspected in 28 locker thefts since June in four campus buildings, including the physical education center, Mollendor said.

"The guy would clean out lockers, and the lock would still be there," the detective said. The stolen items included "everything from laptops, clothes and jewelry to wallets and digital cameras," he said.

Detectives believe that Cooper was able to obtain the combination of locks through the lock manufacturer. They are now recommending locks with keys or combination locks that allow the user to set the combination.

Cooper was charged Tuesday with second-degree burglary, identity theft, possession of burglary tools, possession of identity theft tools, criminal impersonation and misdemeanor theft, said Lynn Kimbrough, of the Denver district attorney's office.

He was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

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