Athens, Ga. – On January 25, 2010 a female student of the University of Georgia was contacted by an employee of the University of Georgia in reference to an alleged copyright infringement violation on her part. During the ensuing conversation, the employee offered to make the situation go away in exchange for money. The female student declined this offer. The employee presented the student with additional offers in order to make the situation go away, which were also declined by the student. The student contacted an official in her academic area of discipline to report the situation and the official in turn contacted the University of Georgia Police Department. The resulting investigation culminated in a successful plain clothes operation in which Dorin Lucian Dehelean, a 37-year-old employee of the Enterprise Information Technology Services division of the University of Georgia, was arrested and charged with one count of felony Theft by Extortion on February 1, 2010 at 6:57 p.m.
The University of Georgia Police Department has reason to believe that other members of the university community may have fallen victim under similar circumstances. If you have been contacted with similar offers or have been involved in actual transactions involving Mr. Dehelean or others, the University of Georgia Police Department would like to reassure you that you have done nothing wrong and would ask that you report the situation as soon as possible.
In reference to media inquiries surrounding this incident, the University of Georgia Police Department will host a question and answer session at 3 p.m. today at the University of Georgia Police Department located at 286 Oconee Street, Athens, Georgia 30602.
