Stars & Stripes

22 December 1999

Darmstadt, Germany - A jury last week found a 32nd Signal Battalion warrant officer candidate innocent of conspiring to steal a government laptop computer.

The five commissioned officers and three enlisted soldiers of the jury deliberated for three hours Dec 15 before finding Staff Sgt. Roy L. Rucker, 28, innocent of conspiring with someone to steal a government computer, soliciting that person to steal it and theft. Rucker is assigned to B Company at Kelley Barracks.

Prosecuting attorneys declined to comment on the case. Rucker was charged with the theft Aug. 31 after someone tipped Criminal Investigative Command authorities about the missing computer.

DAVID COURT, Rucker's attorney, said another soldier stole the computer earlier in the year and sold it to the unsuspecting Rucker for $1.500.00.