Information leading to the whereabouts of laptops, stolen from a Wagga festival, will be rewarded, according to the owner.
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This year’s Riverina BMW Wagga Wagga Food and Wine Festival was soured following the theft of SoundFits equipment worth $6000.
For SoundFits owner Steve McCoy, the festival left a bitter taste as three special-purpose laptops, their bags and power supplies were taken from under the supervision of a security company on Saturday night.
Mr McCoy said the company would gift $1000 just for the return of the Acer 17-inch laptop, as he would have to rewrite three months of work if he couldn’t get it back.
Mr McCoy said he had programmed the computers himself, – “one does video on big screen, one does light show and one does graphics”.
“The graphic laptop is also my business laptop,” Mr McCoy said. “I don’t have a back up… I just want the information on there… that’s worth way more to me.”
Mr McCoy – a Wollundry Rotarian – said the equipment was left on the grounds between 1pm and 7am on Sunday morning. He said having security guards meant they could to leave the site and pack up the following day.
He said the thieves must have fled under the Wollundry Lagoon Bridge.
“On the steps between 2WG and the lagoon we found some brackets from one of the laptop bags,” Mr McCoy said. “They must have waited until security was on another area.”
Festival Chairman Tim Barter said the whole Wollundry Rotary Club was disappointed.
“Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of the festival was amazing,” Mr Barter said. “This incident just put a dampener on the whole thing.”
Mr Barter said Mr McCoy donated most of his time and his operating fee, helping to raise money for the Cancer Care Trust this year.
“He’s pretty lost without that equipment,” he said. “He really needs that program back.”
Festival food stall coordinator Michael Knight said he felt disgust and bitter disappointment following the incident.
“I also think it’s ironic,” Mr Knight said. “To think the thief could well need treatment at that cancer care facility one day.”
Wagga crime manager Darren Cloake said an investigation was underway and anyone with information was urged to come forward.
