MESA, Ariz. -- Gilbert police recovered thousands of dollars worth of school-owned equipment from the home of a former Higley Unified School District technology director.

A report obtained by The East Valley Tribune shows police recovered a network switch worth $3,000 to $5,000, seven computers hooked up to a functioning work station, district laptop computers, desktop monitors and a hard drive.

Bradley Niesluchowski, 38, is accused of installing SETI@home, a computer software program that uses Internet-connected computers worldwide to analyze radio telescope data in an experiment to find space aliens, on more than 5,000 Higley District computers.

At one point, he was the top-ranked SETI@home user in the United States.

Superintendent Denise Birdwell said the program bogged down the district's system and interfered with technology use in classrooms, costing the district more than $1 million in utility fees and computer replacement parts over the 10 years it was installed.

Niesluchowski's wife, Susan, said her husband did nothing wrong.

She said the software was authorized by a previous administration and her husband has better things to do to than look for aliens.

Niesluchowski resigned from the district Oct. 22.