College dean swipes student’s bicycle, redistributes it to less fortunate
Under the just plain bizarre news catagory: College dean steals student’s bicycle.
But he has a good progressive reason for the theft.
further explaining…
Maybe he was hoping that the member of the Alzheimers team would just forget they even had a bicycle.
There’s more.
If Rao’s making almost $400,000 a year, why didn’t he just by the day laborer a bicycle, instead of redistributing someone else’s bicycle?
The crime:
The thief’s excuse was that he just borrowed the bike, and shouldn’t be called a thief.
Rao argues that he wouldn’t steal because he has an important job overseeing millions of dollars in grant money.
TAMPA - An associate dean at the University of South Florida has admitted to taking a student’s bicycle this week in a theft that was captured on a surveillance tape and later posted on YouTube.
Abdul Rao, who oversees research grants for the College of Medicine, is on leave with pay until the campus investigation is complete, said USF spokesman Michael Hoad.
But he has a good progressive reason for the theft.
In a statement, Rao apologized and said he was trying to help a day laborer who needed transportation.
further explaining…
I acted out of compassion for this nearly homeless man; but I failed to consider that the bicycle belonged to someone on our Alzheimer’s team.”
Maybe he was hoping that the member of the Alzheimers team would just forget they even had a bicycle.
There’s more.
Rao, who makes $384,000 a year, took the bike on Monday night from a bike parking area on the loading dock of the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute.
If Rao’s making almost $400,000 a year, why didn’t he just by the day laborer a bicycle, instead of redistributing someone else’s bicycle?
The crime:
The tape shows a woman riding up and parking her bicycle against a railing at 2 p.m. About 8:50 p.m., a minivan pulls up and Rao and a man get out. They look through some bikes near the railing, pick one and leave with it in the minivan.
The owner of the red mountain bike, doctoral student Timothy Boyd, said he had loaned it to the woman seen on the tape. She reported it stolen when she returned Tuesday morning to find it was missing. Campus police said they requested the surveillance video that day.
The thief’s excuse was that he just borrowed the bike, and shouldn’t be called a thief.
Boyd said Rao told him he had only planned to borrow the bike for a day. “He said it was just a misunderstanding,” Boyd said. He asked Boyd to withdraw his complaint because the bicycle had been returned.
But Boyd wants USF police to charge Rao with stealing the $100 bike, a misdemeanor.
“When you take something without asking permission, that’s just stealing. ... People have to do what’s right.”
Rao argues that he wouldn’t steal because he has an important job overseeing millions of dollars in grant money.
