Posted on Tue, Sep. 29, 2009 10:48 PM
University auction turns into cell phone problem at MU
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Missouri’s athletic department had 25 cell phones to sell at a university surplus auction over the summer, and it found a buyer in Mike Bellman of Columbia, who forked over $190.
One problem: Information on the phones hadn’t been erased. Bellman found himself in possession of all kinds of information, including text messages, contact numbers and e-mails from folks like football coach Gary Pinkel, basketball coach Mike Anderson and athletic director Mike Alden.
Bellman’s original intent was to sell the phones for parts on eBay. Now, he’s asking for $3,000 for the phones as a collector’s item.
But it comes with a caveat. Bellman said he’ll require any buyer to sign an affidavit claiming to be a fan of the Missouri Tigers and won’t sell them to, say, operatives from Kansas or Nebraska.
“He’ll make money, and it sounds like it won’t hurt the university,” Missouri assistant athletic director Chad Moller said.
It’s not clear whether the phones have been sold. Contacted Tuesday, Bellman said he wouldn’t talk about the proposed sale.
Missouri offered to buy back the phones for what Bellman paid, but he said the parts alone were worth five times the purchase price. The Tigers also offered to erase the texts and messages and return the phones to Bellman.
Moller said this won’t happen again.
“The process about cleaning the messages wasn’t clearly defined before,” Moller said. “It is now.”
Posted on Tue, Sep. 29, 2009 10:48 PM
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