Rosemount Man Charged with Stealing Computer Components from County

A Rosemount man has been charged with stealing computer equipment from the Dakota County Communications Center in Hastings while he was working there earlier this year.

Matthew Steven Brandenburg, 27, is charged with two felonies: theft and computer theft, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, Dakota County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Dakota County Communications Center on May 18 about a possible theft of computer components by an employee.

Deputies spoke to the center’s executive director, who said that when computers are replaced at the communications center, the old components are put in a locked storage room for auction. The director said employees had recently discovered that computer monitors and towers were missing from the storage room.

County employees told police they suspected that Brandenburg was responsible for stealing the computer components, all of which had identifying tags on them.

A subsequent investigation found that Brandenburg had started his own computer business four to six months earlier, and that witnesses had seen him staying at work after hours. Surveillance video showed Brandenburg removing computer monitors and towers from the communications center, according to the complaint.

Employees told investigators that Brandenburg had been told that none of the items in storage were to be taken for personal use.

On June 18, deputies spoke to Brandenburg, who admitted to taking about 10 computer towers, eight touch-screen monitors and numerous computer cables from the communications center, the complaint says. However, Brandenburg told investigators that the items were “garbage” and needed to be recycled.

Brandenburg said he believed that he was saving the county money by taking the computer equipment, but also admitted that no one had given him permission to take the equipment, according to the complaint.

Brandenburg further admitted that a key is needed to access the locked storage room, and that although he was supposed to sign out the key, he didn’t always do so, the complaint says.

Brandenburg told deputies that he removed most of the items at times when fewer employees were around, and admitted that some of the items might have had usable components within them, according to the complaint.

When Brandenburg allowed deputies to search his business, they found 10 touch-screen monitors with Dakota County Communications Center tags on them. Brandenburg also surrendered a 160-gigabyte hard drive that he said came from a county-owned computer tower, and told deputies that the rest of the towers that took had been scrapped or sold, according to the complaint.

County employees estimated the stolen items to be valued at $1,400.