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Suspect with prior convictions charged in UW hall burglary

SEATTLE — A child molester is suspected of breaking into a University of Washington hall and stealing electronics equipment in mid-March, according to charging documents filed in King County Superior Court.

A UW employee at the Information School at Mary Gates Hall set up surveillance video after noticing previous patterns of items missing. The employee saw the suspect on smartphone video and handed it over to campus police, investigators said.

According to court documents, the employee said he noticed a white man with brown hair and a buzz cut on the 27-second video, which was activated when motion was detected near the phone.

The man appeared to have gone under a desk or down in front of it, and then stood back up, picked up computer glasses, put them on and at some point and walked away, police said.

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When employees returned to their office, they noticed desks were rummaged through, a laptop, computer glasses and a computer charging cord were missing, police said.

The items missing are reported to be worth $2,150.

Campus officers said that when they saw the footage, they recognized the man as Gary Streitler and one officer said police have had contact with him in the past.

Employees authorized to be in the area with an access card, provided a written statement to police that their cards were not stolen or lost, and they saw no one inside while they worked, court documents said.

Police arrested Streitler on March 25.

Streitler has another pending case in which he is accused of second-degree burglary at UW, court documents said.

His record also includes convictions for first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, third-degree assault, second-degree child molestation, two convictions of second-degree burglary and nearly 20 gross misdemeanors or misdemeanors, according to court documents.

Streitler is being accused of second-degree burglary and his bail is set at $5,000.