$100,000 question at Sigonella: Where's the equipment?

[unhappycamper]

$100,000 question at Sigonella: Where's the equipment?
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Thousands of dollars worth of computer and electronics equipment is missing from the U.S. elementary and high schools on the Navy base in Sigonella, Sicily, officials said.

Officials from the Department of Defense Dependents School-Europe, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Italian Carabinieri have been investigating the schools’ missing inventory since May.

“This does impact educational programs,” said Nadine Sapiente, Sigonella’s elementary school principal. “This year, I’m using funds to replace what is missing when I could be buying new equipment.”

School officials can’t account for electronic equipment including laptops, digital cameras, projectors, printers and various sound and lighting equipment, according to a statement by Sapiente and Sonny Bertsinger, the high school principal.

“After reviewing the inventory some of the property was located,” reads the statement, which did not detail what equipment has been found and what remains missing.

Officials declined to disclose the total value of the missing equipment bought for the school system through appropriated funds saying it’s part of the investigation. However, school employees familiar with the lost inventory said it’s about $100,000.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49916

[mn9driver]

1. I spent six months there a few (well, a lot of) years back.

The base is, or was, fairly open. Italian locals had no trouble getting in if they wished. Sig is very close to Catania, which has more than its share of petty crime problems.