I get why this is bad, but I also could see myself doing the same thing thinking I was doing the right thing. No one is reasonably articulating malicious intent here without some strong leaps of faith.
Seems like the fact that he could just pick it up and walk it up to his office is a serious problem for someone with actual malicious intent. Obviously he should have had the authorized person bolt it down, but still. These seems dumb and shortsighted, not evil.