Royce Tevis, a professor of music and theater at Chico State, stepped out of his office to get a drink of water.

When he returned, he saw that his department-issued MacBook was gone.

“I lost 14 years of information,” Tevis said.

All of the information on his computer was work-related, he said.

Theft of electronic devices has risen at at Chico State in the past few weeks, said Lt. Corinne Beck of the University Police.

Since the beginning of the semester, 14 electronic theft reports have been filed, with a spike in the past few weeks, Beck said.

Laptops and cellphones have been the most frequently stolen, Beck said.

Locations have been widespread across campus, Beck said. No specific areas have been tracked.

“The most important thing is to not leave your valuables unattended,” Beck said.

She advised that students visit the University Police station and enter the serial numbers of their electronics into their database.

The number will be logged into a statewide theft system and will be easier to track by law enforcement.

“If someone’s laptop is stolen, report it,” she said. “We have investigation means to track something down.”

Since his laptop was stolen, he uses paper files in the music department, Tevis said. He has never felt the safety of his belongings were in jeopardy until now.

“I lived in Chico a long time ago,” Tevis said. “We never locked our doors. Things have changed.”

Nathan Lehmann can be reached at [email protected] and @theorion_news on Twitter.