A student has been charged with burglary after he confessed to climbing through air ducts to steal an exam from his lecturer’s office.
University of Kentucky undergraduate Henry Lynch II and his friend Troy Kiphuth were reportedly caught trying to steal a statistics test when tutor John Cain returned to his office in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Bio-engineering student Lynch had climbed through the building’s air ducts before dropping into Cain’s office and unlocking the door for Kiphuth, a university spokesperson told the Lexington Herald Leader.
As the duo, both aged 21, searched for the exam, Cain returned to his office and found the door locked.
After the statistics tutor threatened to call the police, the two students opened the door and fled.
Lynch later returned and confessed, the newspaper reported, telling police he had already tried to steal the test earlier in the day but could not find it.
He also admitted to stealing another exam by sneaking through the vents.
Kiphuth was also charged for his involvement in the incident. The pair are set to go before a judge next month.
A spokesperson for the university told the New York Times: “Cheating and theft of this kind is very serious in an academic institution.”
“It’s an unusual set of circumstances,” they said. “It also underscores how late our faculty work.”
The news comes on the same day it was revealed that a British law student was caught using invisible ink to cheat on an exam.