A man was caught stealing multiple laptops and large televisions from a Phoenix hospital last month.
Phoenix police report that on July 24, Brian Leroy Nichols II, 35, was seen on surveillance video stealing three laptop computers from Abrazo Central Campus Hospital near 19th Avenue and Bethany Home Road.
The video reportedly shows Nichols wandering around the basement of the hospital for about three hours, going through classrooms and changing his appearance.
He then allegedly took the computers from a classroom and stashed them under the staircase where he had made a bed with a gurney mattress.
He left the hospital and sold two of the computers, but still had the third computer in his backpack when police arrested him.
The hospital reported televisions were also missing from various floors of the hospital. When police asked Nichols about them, he reportedly admitted to stealing five televisions including two with 55-inch screens.
Police asked him how he got the televisions out of the hospital undetected. He explained that he would place them on a gurney and cover them with sheets and walk out the door to an awaiting accomplice with a truck. He would then return the gurney to a nurse saying it was contaminated.
Nichols told police he sold the stolen items for food and drugs. He said he even stayed at the hospital several nights taking food and other small items, going into rooms that were closed.
Nichols, who has an extensive criminal record, was arrested for burglary. Police estimate the value of all the items stolen by Nichols at about $36,000.
A hospital spokesperson shared the following statement with ABC15:
"We are reviewing campus security footage of this incident to assist the Phoenix Police Department with its investigation. We are also conducting a thorough review of our campus security measures."
