MARYLAND COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM UNIVERSITY 'Person of interest' sought in campus burglaries - News

The description of a "person of interest" in the recent rash of burglaries and thefts on campus has been released by the Office of Public Safety and the Baltimore County Police Department.

Witnesses describe the person as a white, thin, college-aged male approximately 5' 7" tall and weighing approximately 130 to 140 pounds. He has shaggy dirty-blonde or light brown hair. The person was wearing a blue hooded-sweatshirt and blue jeans at the time one of the burglaries occurred. The person also had a backpack, according to the witnesses.

The two witnesses, who gave the description to The Office of Public Safety, saw the person leaving the room of Dan Stein '07 in the New Residence Hall ("The T") at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 27. Stein's laptop wass tolen about that time, as one of his suite mates was asleep in the suite.

The person was not immediately reported to Public Safety. Initially, the witnesses, both students, thought the person was Stein's new roommate.

In addition to that incident, there were eight other rooms burglarized (see sidebar for a detailed breakdown). The first burglary occurred on Jan. 19, between 10 p.m. and midnight.

As of Monday night, when The Quindecim went to press, the robbery of Stein's laptop was the last reported burglary.

Nine burglaries

In all nine burglaries, students left their room door unlocked.

"We have not had any indication of anyone breaking into a room or tampering with the lock," Director of Public Safety Alexis Marchesiello said.

In total, five laptops, at least three credit cards, an unspecified amount of cash, books, a DVD player, an iPod and clothing were reportedly stolen.

Only one person was able to provide Public Safety with the serial number to a stolen laptop. The other students are still trying to find their laptops' serial numbers.

"The serial numbers allow us to track stolen items, such as laptops or iPods, through our pawn shop system if anyone attempts to sell those items," a spokesman for the Baltimore County Police Department said. "We can also put them into a national database so, if the items are ever recovered in a different investigation, they could be identified."

Marchesiello will be starting a program soon to collect serial numbers on items, such as laptops, from students. The numbers will be kept in Public Safety for five years.

Four thefts

According to two of the theft incident reports, items were stolen out of lockers in the Sports and Recreation Center (SRC).

Director of Business and Auxiliary Services Calvin Gladden, had his wedding ring, watch, wallet containing credit cards and cash, house and office keys and cell phonestolen out of his locked locker. His locker was broken into as he was playing basketball with friends between 12:10 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 29. He later found his keys in a trash can inside the locker room.

Another lock was also broken about the same time. A rental car key was stolen, though the car itself was not stolen. Due to the nature of reporting a theft, these two incidents are actually part of the same incident report.

Another theft was reported on Jan. 23. In this case, dance professor Chrystelle Bond told The Quindecim that her wallet was stolen when she left her office door unlocked and office vacant between 11:00 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. on Jan. 23. The report she filed with Public Safety, however, indicates that she was not sure that she had the wallet with her on. The report states that the last time she said that she saw it was on Jan. 21.

The reason for the differing accounts was not immediately discernible.

Between 3:00 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Jan. 31, a wallet was stolen from an unlocked locker in the SRC. A stolen credit card from the wallet was used at a Towson Wal-Mart store and at a Red Box DVD rental kiosk before it was cancelled.

The other theft reported to Public Safety may not have occurred on-campus either. In this case, $600 in charges was made on an employee's stolen personal credit card between Jan. 14 and Jan. 18. The employee was not sure where the card was actually lost.

Police involvement

The Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) has two detectives assigned to the rash of crime. A spokesman with BCPD indicated that the burglaries and thefts are being treated as different cases because the profiles of the crimes do not match.

Theoretically, BCPD is able to do more than Goucher's Office of Public Safety can. They have the ability to track stolen items through pawn shops and also send out a forensics team to investigate the crime scene.

The spokesman indicated that the actual police reports are not yet available, as it takes approximately 30 to 45 days for the reports to be cleared for the media by the department's various divisions.

Potential Errors

When Gladden realized his wallet was stolen he immediately directed a colleague to cancel all of his credit cards. The thief attempted to use one credit card at a Cingular store and a RadioShack store, which are both located next door to campus in Towson Town Center.

Since the card had already been cancelled, it was declined.

Both stores have surveillance cameras. The person who used the credit card should be on tape. At the time this story went to press, which was two weeks after his credit card wasstolen, managers at both stores said that they had not yet been contacted.

Also, it appears that a Public Safety officer misunderstood how helpful BCPD would be in solving the crime. There was a 48 to 72-hour delay between the time that Public Safety received Gladden's report and when it was forwarded to BCPD.

In addition, a forensics team was sent to Goucher just once to investigate a burglary crime scene.

A 24-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, retired Lt. Raymond Foster explained why they may not have come more: "I know that losing all your stuff is bad. But, we are not talking about the Manson murders. So, for a police department in the beginning of atheft� you do not see those kinds of resources spent."

Other campuses

Rumors that similar burglaries and thefts occurred at other area colleges could not be confirmed. Calls to Villa Julie College, Towson University, Johns Hopkins University and Loyola College requesting more information were not returned.

A spokeswoman with the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park said, within the past year, there have not been any similar incidents. But, according to the incident logs on UMD's website, there have been similar burglaries on their campuses in the past. In all of these burglaries, too, it appears that students left their doors unlocked.

Recommendations

The Director of Community Living Scott Eckhardt, indicated that he is exploring the possibility of a security system that would beep loudly if a door was left open for too long. At least one building on campus, Sondheim, has this kind of technology already in place.

Students, faculty and staff are being told to keep their doors locked at all times, record serial numbers for items such as computers and iPods, and report any suspicious activity or persons to the Office of Public Safety immediately.

Marchesiello added, "If something feels wrong to you, if your gut tells you that someone doesn't fit in�feel free to call us. We would rather respond a dozen times on a false alarm than one time to find that somebody lost their laptop with all their work on it."
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In the February 28 issue, we will conclude this two-part series exploring how safe is the campus and also possibilities to make it safer.