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Busch Tracking Laptop Thefts

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 6, 2008

About 150,000 people nationwide have been affected by the theft of laptops with personal information about current and former employees of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.

A letter sent by the St. Louis-based brewer and received by the Florida Attorney General's Office on Friday said the laptops contain personal information on nearly 87,500 Florida residents, including current and former employees, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Tampa Tribune. Sandi Copes, a spokeswoman for the Florida Attorney General's office, said it is the office's understanding that only information from Busch Gardens employees was involved.

The laptops also contain information on more than 3,100 Florida residents involved in employee assistance programs, either as recipients or providers.

Some of the laptops were stolen from an Anheuser-Busch office at a St. Louis-area office building between June 6 and 9, Anheuser-Busch said in its letter to Florida officials. The stolen laptops were password protected and information on them encrypted, the company said. So far, the company does not believe any fraudulent credit transactions or cases of identity theft have resulted from the laptop thefts.

A spokeswoman with Busch Gardens in Tampa, which is owned and operated by an entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch, declined comment.

Tim Farrell, vice president of corporate human resources at Anheuser-Busch, said in statement:

"At this time, there is no evidence that the theft has resulted in any unauthorized disclosure, fraudulent credit card applications or other identity theft crimes. We have taken precautions by notifying all affected individuals and offering free credit monitoring from Equifax Personal Solutions for one year."

The state of California was notified that nearly 55,000 of its residents were affected, said Abraham Arredondo, a spokesman for the attorney general's office there.

In all, residents in at least six states are involved.

More than 4,500 people in Virginia and New Hampshire are also affected, according to reports from the offices of their attorneys general.

Anheuser-Busch has declined to say how many people were involved or in how many states, so it's still not clear how widespread the loss was. But offices for attorneys general in six states have confirmed either they or their residents were notified of the thefts.

The states involved are: Florida, New Hampshire, Virginia, Missouri, Texas and California.

Anheuser-Busch said Friday that personal information for current and former employees was missing after the theft of several laptops from one of its office buildings in the St. Louis area, where it has its headquarters.

The company, the maker of Bud Light and Budweiser, said at least one of those laptops contained data on current and former employees, dependents and some that people involved in employee assistance programs.

Tribune reporter Jacob Schneider contributed to this report.

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