Wed. November 15, 2006
Chicago, IL -
Unfortunate news came from Chicago Filmmakers one day following Reeling: The Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival's 25th Anniversary closing party.
First reported on ChicagoPride.com correspondent Justin Boltz's blog, Reeling Executive Director Brenda Webb announced in a mass mailing that the Chicago Filmmakers's office, the governing organization overseeing Reeling, was burglarized. Cash and unprocessed credit card slips, proceeds from the festival's screenings, were stolen.
"As a non-profit organization, this is a huge loss for us both financially and emotionally," Webb writes in a letter to Reeling and press affiliates.
Per Webb, money was stolen from a locked cabinet, most likely between 11 p.m. Sunday November 12, and 9 a.m. Monday November 13. "Our back door was open and ajar when we came in Monday morning," Webb says, "though we are certain all doors were locked when we left at about 11 p.m. Sunday night, after our staff and several volunteers loaded in equipment and supplies from our anniversary party."
A police report was filed. Fingerprints were taken and neighbors were canvassed to determine whether eyewitnesses noticed someone entering or exiting the building after hours. No staff members were present or harmed. As the investigation is ongoing, no other information regarding the burglary specifics is available as of press time.
Webb informs, "Most of the money stolen was from admissions collected for shows specifically at [the Chicago Filmmakers office and screening room]. The other income is secure.
"We don't know exactly what credit card information was lost because these were from people paying by credit card at the door. We don't usually have the time to authorize credit cards as we are selling tickets, so we do that later when we have time. All we had were credit card slips, which were in envelopes with the cash locked in the cabinet ... Actually, we think it was a very small number of credit card slips in that cabinet. Most of what was stolen was cash." Credit card information collected for ticket sales prior to the screenings were not in the cabinet at the time of the burglary.
An insurance claim will be filed and Webb is optimistic the loss will be covered. However the incident has Reeling officials considering new protocol for future events. "We will no doubt rethink our security issues. We will probably no longer accept credit card purchases for festival tickets purchased at the door. All credit card purchases for Reeling tickets will probably have to be done in advance."
Whether or not the burglary will effect the planning and execution of future events, Webb says, "We need time to deliberate on that."
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