An AEJMC Dell business laptop was stolen Friday night from the convention registration room on the B2 floor of the San Francisco Marriott.

The business laptop belonged to Richard Burke, business manager for the AEJMC Central Office, who has spent 21 years with AEJMC/ASJMC.

AEJMC convention information, including registration information for walk-in attendees, was on the laptop.

In addition, Burke reported that the laptop held AEJMC “ledgers and financial statements,” but financial information for AEJMC convention attendees was kept separately. The stolen laptop only listed names, addresses, and telephone numbers for the attendees.

Burke reports that he left the registration office locked at around 5:30 p.m. last night, and that Fred Williams, convention manager, opened the office about three hours later, saw the laptop was missing, and thought Burke had taken it with him.

Burke returned to the office at around 7:45 a.m. and found that the laptop was taken, but the printer, mouse and everything else in the office remained intact.

Burke reported the missing laptop to the Marriott claims office.

Burke also reported the burglary to the San Francisco Police Station on Bryant Street, who sent a police officer to get the make, serial number, and approximate value of the laptop.

Burke estimated the laptop’s value at around $3500. The police plan to use the serial number to track down the laptop if the burglars try to sell it at a pawnshop.

All convention information is backed up on both a hard drive at the AEJMC Central Office in Columbia, South Carolina as well as on disks here in San Francisco.

“The hard part is we had just finished inputting convention information from walk-ins and changes made at the beginning of the conference,” said Burke.

However, walk-in information is recorded on the paper registration forms, and will only need to be reentered.

If you have any information regarding the burglary, please contact the AEJMC central office at (803) 798-0271 and the police.