Whittier College Newsroom was Bugged

Listening device discovered in the QC office

by Rebecca Wolf, QC Managing Editor

A maintenance worker discovered an electronic eavesdropping device inside an electrical outlet behind a sofa in the Quaker Campus (QC) newspaper office Thursday, Feb. 21.

Maintenance searched all outlets and light switches in the QC on Monday, Feb. 25 and on Tuesday, Feb. 26, the outlets in the Student Union and the offices of the Council of Representatives (COR), the Acropolis and Whittier College Radio were searched. Director of Student Activities Barnaby Peake also searched the phones in the QC office on Wednesday, but no other devices were found.

There are no suspects or leads as to who placed the device or why it was placed.

"As far as I know, this is the first ‘bug’ confirmed in a student newspaper office," Mike Heistand of the Student Press Law Center based in Washington D.C. said in the College Media Advisor’s online message board.

The maintenance department and the Security and Spy Outlet store in Puente Hills believed the device was homemade using parts bought at a local store and took no more than 10 minutes to install inside the QC. However, Private Investigator Thomas Barnes of Thomas Barnes and Associates in Whittier said that the device was too intricate to be homemade.

"[The device] works like a mini FM radio station," said an employee of the spy outlet store, who wished to be identified only as "Paul." "Whoever built it could have been listening live or could have set up a tape recorder to record everything to listen to later."

According to Paul, the device was designed to last no more than a year because the individual components would burn out. He tested the device at the store but it did not work, and he believes the device was not functioning at the time it was discovered.

"We don’t yet know why that device was there," said Barnes, a retired detective. "There would be no lawful reason, because anything recorded would not be admissible [in court] ... it’s definitely illegal."

The Whittier Police Department (W.P.D.) was called to the scene on Monday but initially chose not to file a report because of a lack of any real leads. However, after pressure from local councilman Bob Henderson, W.P.D. Chief David Singer said that there would be an investigation into why a report was not initially filed. "Whenever a crime appears to have occurred, a report should be taken," Singer said. "We will investigate what occurred with whether a report should have been taken."

Assistant Chief of Campus Safety John Lewis later took the bug to the W.P.D. and a report was filed Wednesday night. Singer said he did not know what could be done in the investigation of the bug at this time.

"Without a doubt the W.P.D. should have filed a report," Barnes said. "This is not a civil case; this is a criminal case."

Hiestand said that installing a bug in a private area is illegal in California, and there is a federal law that prohibits government intrusion into newsrooms. "Clearly what has happened here is reprehensible," Heistand said.

"This is a violation of our rights on innumerable levels," junior QC Editor-in-Chief Amy Stice said. "Not only does it infringe on our rights as a free press, but also as human beings entitled to a right to privacy. We’ve been threatened, and at a level we find impossible to comprehend."

President Katherine Haley Will was off-campus at a conference this week and could not be reached for comment. Assistant Dean of Students Tracy Poon-Tambascia believes the bug was placed by someone who had more than a casual conflict with the newspaper. "This is a level of sophistication beyond general tension," Tambascia said.

"Whoever installed the device wanted to monitor [the QC’s] activity for a long period of time. They wanted to keep tabs on who [the QC] was talking to and probably wanted to neutralize stories before they came out," Barnes said.

Campus Safety believes the device could have been placed in the QC office by a group wanting to know the stories the newspaper planned to publish, an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend of a former employee, or even by a former reporter who wanted to scoop another reporter on a story.

The device’s location—behind the sofa—is the location for staff conferences. According to QC Advisor Gary Libman, that area of the office has been a meeting area for the staff since he has been its advisor, which has been for 17 years.

The QC walls were painted last August and the paint seal was broken by Armando Renteria, the maintenance electrician, when he removed the device, indicating the device has been in the wall at least since August. Campus Safety and Paul estimate the device to be a few years old because of the size of the components and the dust collected on it. Newer devices are smaller in size and can transmit farther. The outlet that the device was installed on is a newer model that was not sold until the 1990s, according to Renteria.

Renteria was called to the QC office to fix a light table that had broken earlier in the year. When Renteria checked the outlet that the light table was plugged into, he found that the two main wires to the outlet were switched. Renteria then pulled the outlet out and found the bugging device connected to it.

When told of the device, Libman recalled that an issue of the QC was stolen from news stands 15 months ago. "I think these things are a matter of great concern," Libman said.

Approximately 1,200 newspapers were stolen of the Nov. 30, 2000 issue. Lewis said that he did not see a connection between the two events nor did he believe that "this is part of a grander scheme."

"There isn’t any evidence that there are more devices," Tambascia said. "Our assumption is that this is the only device. ... I don’t know that we can do more. If more were found, it [would] feed into a sense of urgency—but that wasn’t the case."

A sense of urgency was felt by Council of Representatives (COR) President Jess Craven, who contacted Barnes. Craven said that the device did not just concern the newspaper but every student on campus. "The privacy of students was compromised and not taken seriously enough," Craven said. "It needed a second look and that’s what it got."

Craven said a second look was neccessary because the device was built for long-term use, a hard-wire assembly that was connected to the building’s power. Other devices that are battery-operated are available but only last a few weeks before needing a replacement battery.

Paul said that the device could transmit up to two to three miles away. However, Associate Plant Director of Whittier College Bruce Lussier said the device was a High Frequency (HF) device and probably had a range of 200-300 feet. Lussier is an amateur radio operator with a technician’s license.

"The further the range, the more difficult it is when considering where to search," Lewis said. "We want to take a measured approach to this."

According to Campus Safety Chief Bernard Alex, this is the first electronic eavesdropping device of this type found on campus.

"I’ve worked at schools and universities for 15 years and was in the military for 25, and I have never seen anything like this," Lussier said.