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UC Berkeley Ph.D. candidate busted repeatedly sabotaging rival student's computer, causing $46,000 in damages — hidden camera sting catches perp causing "sparks to fly out of the laptop," student arrested on three felony counts
A PhD engineering student at UC Berkeley seemed to be extremely unfortunate, with computer after computer failing, racking up repair bills into the thousands of dollars. Their professor “smelled a rat,” reports The Mercury News, so they set up a laptop to record anything that might happen to the unlucky student’s hardware when it was left unattended. According to a cited police report, another PhD student was subsequently caught on video using an implement to vandalize their rival’s device, causing "sparks to fly out of the laptop," to the tune of nearly $50,000 in damage.
Cumulative $46,855 in suspicious computer damage over recent years
The above drama unfolded at UC Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences department. At this hallowed seat of learning, an unnamed professor was more than suspicious of a cumulative $46,855 damage bill that had occurred to computers in the department over recent years. Moreover, “nearly all of it seemed to affect one particular Ph.D. candidate,” it was observed.
The professor’s savvy subterfuge
With their sense of skulduggery inflamed, the professor asked the permission of the building manager to video monitor the hapless PhD student’s laptop using another laptop/camera.
The professor’s savvy subterfuge “captured another Ph.D. candidate, the 26-year-old Jiarui Zou, damaging his fellow student’s computer,” notes the source. Zou’s physical interference with the laptop was so forceful that sparks were seen in the recording.
Zou was arrested on Nov 12, at his Berkeley residence, but according to court records refused to talk to the police. Nevertheless, there was enough evidence to charge the suspected laptop labotomizer with “three felony counts of vandalism, related to the destruction of three computers on Nov. 9-10,” says the source.
Zou in a stew
These three cases amounted to >$400 of damage per time. Though they might be just the tip of the iceberg. The professor reportedly reckons Zou has been following a similar modus operandi for years, hence the estimated bill of nearly $50,000. However, it is just these three cases that will be tried in court.
Currently, reports indicate that Zou isn’t in custody. However, there are just a few days left before the first court session regarding this case, scheduled for December 15.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
