--- description: Two college students thought they could cheat the system by breaking into a professor's office via the air duct to steal an exam paper title: Student Climbed Through Ceiling Duct to Steal Exam Papers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5386bb439e5077e/6988cc1d656a3f8057bcfdb0/gettyimages-477995944.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Kentucky Students Arrested After Climbing Through Ceiling Duct to Steal Exam Papers by [Kevin Lui](/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 5, 2017 8:22 AM CUT  The University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. The University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.benedek—Getty Images/iStockphoto by [Kevin Lui](/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 5, 2017 8:22 AM CUT Two college students in Kentucky thought they could cheat the system by breaking into a statistics professor’s office via the ceiling ducts and make off unscathed with an exam paper. To their surprise (and undoing) instructor John Cain at the University of Kentucky returned to his office after midnight on Wednesday, and caught them red handed, the _Lexington Herald-Leader_ [reports.](http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article148415434.html "undefined") When he found his office door blocked, Cain “yelled out that he was calling the police and then the door swung open and two young men ran down the hallway,” university spokesperson Jay Blanton told the paper. One of the students returned to the scene and confessed to campus police shortly afterwards. Henry Lynch, 21, had reportedly climbed through the building’s air ducts into Cain’s office, before letting in a friend. Lynch told police that he had entered the office once before that day without finding what he wanted, and had successfully snatched a paper earlier in the semester. Both students will be referred to a local Circuit Court on third degree burglary charges. \[[_Lexington Herald-Leader_](http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article148415434.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4768488/college-student-kentucky-ducts-steal-exam-papers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4768488/college-student-kentucky-ducts-steal-exam-papers/"},"headline":"Kentucky Students Arrested After Climbing Through Ceiling Duct to Steal Exam Papers","datePublished":"2017-05-05T08:22:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:22.921Z","description":"A not so great escape","url":"https://time.com/4768488/college-student-kentucky-ducts-steal-exam-papers/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","Kentucky","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5386bb439e5077e/6988cc1d656a3f8057bcfdb0/gettyimages-477995944.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin Lui","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5386bb439e5077e/6988cc1d656a3f8057bcfdb0/gettyimages-477995944.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"University of Kentucky Lexington USA","caption":"University of Kentucky Lexington USA","creditText":"benedek—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4768488/college-student-kentucky-ducts-steal-exam-papers/","name":"Kentucky Students Arrested After Climbing Through Ceiling Duct to Steal Exam Papers"}}]}] ```