NORMAL (AP) -- Officials of Illinois State University are reporting the theft of 56 air conditioning units.

The theft, which Illinois State Police Chief Aaron Woodruff says represents a $25,000 loss, was reported earlier this week by the university's facilities management staff.

Woodruff tells The Pantagraph in Bloomington (http://bit.ly/oAcYby) the missing units were among 75 used in the Cardinal Courts apartment complex, which was razed this spring.

Although deemed unusable because of their age, housing services director Maureen Blair says the units were to be turned over to the state of Illinois' Central Management System, which circulates state-owned equipment among various state agencies.

Woodruff says staff first noticed in July the units were disappearing, but thought the equipment relocation was beginning. It wasn't until all the units disappeared that their loss was reported.