Ripon College Days

A report filed with the Ripon Police Department earlier this month indicates approximately $200 in coins was recently stolen from three Pepsi vending machines in Todd Wehr Hall.

The theft, according to the report, mirrors similar larceny at high schools and colleges in the Fox Valley. The pilfering appears to stem from a reported theft of master keys in Oshkosh Dec. 21.

Pepsi Americas employee Michael Patt filed the Ripon police report Jan. 10. In Patt's account recorded Dec. 21, some master keys, including one for nearly all Pepsi machines in the valley, were stolen from a Pepsi truck parked in front of an Oshkosh restaurant.

As detailed in the report, Patt and his associate Robert Thomer were in Ripon to check the machines and found that three of the total eight had been broken into and the coins taken. All three machines were in Todd Wehr Hall.

The police document also states Patt believes the money was removed using a set of keys and then locked back up.

After discovering the coins missing, Patt reports the locks on the rest of the machines at Ripon were changed.

Based on the two reports, the timeframe between the master key theft and the theft in Todd Wehr aligns with Ripon's winter break.

"Typically, no, we do not tend to routinely open buildings during break periods unless there is something special going on because most faculty and staff have keys to the exterior of the building," says Layne Sessions, director of the physical plant.

Housekeeping also accessed Todd Wehr during break.

"The housekeeping will generally go through after classes are over and do a good general cleaning...and will just go back if there's project work to do," says Sessions.

"Some of the doors, too, once you go through them if you don't follow up and make sure they latch behind you aren't strong enough and don't latch every time," says Sessions.

Director of Conferences and Contract Services Lisa Diedrich, who was out of the office for periods during winter break says when she returned around Jan. 9 she had two messages from Oshkosh Pepsi Americas headquarters informing her of the master key theft and later that the locks on the machines at Ripon had been changed. She was unaware of any theft of coins at Ripon and unaware of the police report that was filed Jan. 10.

According to the Ripon police report, Patt indicated as far as he knew the Oshkosh Police Department had no suspects. He also said as a result of the key theft the company needed to change locks on the estimated 2,500 machines between Green Bay and Milwaukee.

Attempts to reach the Pepsi Americas representative who deals with Ripon's account, Melissa Cottle, were unsuccessful.

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