(The Associated Press circulated the following article on September 11.)
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific officials have provided more details about the April theft of a laptop that contained the names and Social Security numbers of 30,000 current or retired employees.
The computer belonged to an employee, and was taken along with a car stereo on April 29 at an apartment complex parking lot in La Vista.
The company announced the theft in May, but released little information about the circumstances of the disappearance. The theft prompted a group of nine Union Pacific employees to sue the nation’s largest railroad over the way it uses Social Security numbers to identify employees.
“The computer contained sensitive information critical to Union Pacific Railroad,” said Union Pacific special agent Jeff Dudik.
La Vista police are working on the case.
“We assume these suspects were just out after car stereos. They just happened to hit the proverbial jackpot with a Compaq computer in the back seat,” said T.J. Jacik of the La Vista police.
Investigators are checking pawn shops and other businesses that buy used computers for a silver Compaq laptop.
A $2,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to the recovery of the computer.
The nine plaintiffs in the lawsuit are from Nebraska, Wyoming, Missouri, Iowa and Kansas.