Employee charged with thefts

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

longtime Physical Plant employee pleaded innocent last week to multiple charges related to the theft of hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of University equipment.

     Daniel P. Hunt, 39, of Whately, a technical specialist assigned to Environmental Health and Safety to supervise asbestos abatement, was arrested following an eight-month investigation by UMass Police and State Police attached to the district attorney's office.

     Appearing in Northampton District Court on April 15, Hunt pleaded innocent to 12 charges of breaking and entering in the daytime with the intent to commit a felony, 12 charges of larceny from a building, 11 charges of receiving stolen property over $250 and one charge each of receiving stolen property under $250, attempting to commit a crime (breaking and entering) and larceny over $250.

     Hunt was released on $10,000 personal surety and his case was continued to June 5.

     Investigators say Hunt, who has worked at UMass for 19 years, stole mostly microscopes and lenses and then sold them on the Internet, with one sale netting $21,432. Police say they spotted a microscope for sale on eBay the day after it went missing from the Radio Astronomy Department.

     Hunt allegedly pilfered equipment from the Biology, Astronomy, Physics and Food Sciences departments, Academic Instructional Media Services and the Lederle Graduate Research Center.

     According to campus officials, Hunt has been suspended from his job with pay, pending an internal investigation.