Wednesday, February 1, 2012

University specialist faces felony theft charges

By on March 4, 2008

A University employee arrested last week is facing additional charges in connection with his use of a University van.

Police charged Brett Jason Rudolph, 32, with felony theft by conversion Friday. Rudolph was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol Thursday while driving a University van.

Rudolph, a systems administrator specialist of cellular biology, posted a $2,000 bond for the theft charge, according to the Athens-Clarke County booking log.

A Magistrate Court clerk said the documents pertaining to the Friday charges were not yet available. Efforts to reach Rudolph were unsuccessful Monday.

Theft by conversion is defined by Georgia Criminal Defense’s Web site as a person lawfully obtaining someone else’s property for a specified use, but the borrower uses the property for a different purpose than originally intended.

ACC and University Police reported:

On Thursday at about 12:20 a.m. a passer-by called ACC Police, alerting them to a to reckless driver on West Broad Street. The caller said the van was white with two flat tires and had a Clarke County government license plate.

Police found the van in the Red Rooster parking lot on West Broad Street unattended. When Rudolph came out of the restaurant, his breath smelled of alcohol and ACC Police then called University Police.

Rudolph told officers that the tires blew out while he was driving the 1991 Dodge Ram van from the cellular biology building down Lumpkin and said he planned to leave the University van in the Red Rooster parking lot overnight.

Rudolph was arrested, and the van was towed to the University Police station.

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