Police: UK student climbs through ceiling ducts in an attempt to steal statistics exam…. again

This week is finals week at the University of Kentucky, but two students allegedly tried to bypass studying for at least one of their exams.

UK Spokesperson Jay Blanton says shortly before 2:00a.m. Wednesday, one student climbed through the ceiling ducts of the Multidisciplinary Science building on campus.

“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 instructors office in order to try and steal a test,” Blanton said.

Blanton says another student was waiting inside the building for the first student to open the door to the office.

But, Blanton says the professor whose office was being broken into was working late into the night and had stepped out to get something to eat at the time of the burglary.

Once the professor returned, Blanton says he couldn’t get into his office so he knew something was wrong. Blanton says he yelled that he was going to call the police.

Blanton says that’s when two students, Junior Henry Lynch II and Sophomore Troy Kiphuth ran out of the office.

Blanton says once police arrived Lynch II returned to the scene and began confessing.

“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. Said he didn’t share the answers with anybody but had successfully stolen a test at that time- that’s what he told police,” Blanton said.

Both Lynch II and Kiphuth were cited with a burglary-3rd degree, which is a felony. They will face a judge on June 26th.

Blanton says the Office of Student Conduct will conduct its own investigation to determine the punishment the students will face at the school.

“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,” Blanton 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.”