University of Kentucky students climb through ceiling ducts to steal exams

May 4 (UPI) -- A pair of students at the University of Kentucky who broke into the campus to steal final exams were caught by their professor.

University spokesman Jay Blanton told WKYT one of the students climbed into their professor's office in the Multidisciplinary Science building through the ceiling ducts at 2 a.m. on Wednesday.

"Apparently one of the students had somehow gotten up into the ceiling of the building. It's a drop down ceiling over these faculty instruction offices and had crawled through that open area and had dropped down into the faculty instructor's office in order to try and steal a test," he said.

Blanton said the other student was waiting outside for the first to open the door to their professor's office.

Much to the surprise of the two students, their professor was on campus working late and foiled the potential theft.

"He yelled out that he was calling the police and then the door swung open and two young men ran down the hallway," Blanton told the Lexington Herald-Leader.

One of the students later returned to the scene to confess he had attempted to break into the office to steal tests multiple times.

"He told police that two things. One, that he had been there earlier in the evening trying to steal a test, had been unsuccessful at that point and presumably that's why he had come back later. And then apparently earlier in the semester, had successfully stolen a test," Blanton said. "Said he didn't share the answers with anybody but had successfully stolen a test at that time."

Both students were cited with third-degree burglary and will be forced to appear in the local circuit court. Blanton said the school will conduct a further investigation into the incident.

"These are very serious charges in a very serious manner and I can assure you a very extensive investigation will be conducted and the university will respond accordingly once findings are made," he said. "That's not the values that this institution holds and certainly not the values that I think the vast majority of our students, faculty and staff uphold every day."