MASSACHUSETTS COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY Students say laptops taken from houses in Allston - News

Students say laptops taken from houses in Allston

Kasey Wickman

Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: News

Boston University students living in Allston say they were robbed of three laptops and a digital camera Friday afternoon, the second case in two weeks in the area in which thieves appeared to have entered through unlocked windows when the residents were not at home.

The alleged intruders broke into the four BU students' rooms on Sawyer Terrace - near Ashford Street - between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Friday, said resident Greg Sabina, who estimated the lost property to be worth up to $4,000.

"They didn't take anything else, which was weird," said resident Andrea Rodi, a Daily Free Press reporter. "They also took my computer case out of the closet and emptied everything out of it and took that too, just the carry bag for the computer."

Rodi, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said she found it strange that even though DVDs were lying out, no other items were taken. She also said although the front door to the apartment was locked, the windows were not secured. Sabina, a CAS junior, said he suspects the house was being watched until the roommates had all left.

"They went into each individual bedroom, they got the laptops and they just left," Sabina said. "They didn't disturb anything else, so they knew what they wanted when they came here."

A few blocks away two weeks earlier, a house on Ashford Street was robbed in a similar fashion. CAS junior Andrew Ruisi said two laptops, an iPod charger and a $20 bill were taken Oct. 20 from the house where he and five other BU students live. The intruder entered through a back window that had been left open, he said. All six residents were out of the house at the time.

In both instances, the non-electronic contents of the bedrooms were left nearly untouched. The intruders only took the computers and the bags to store them.

"One of my roommates - they went into his room, but he has a desktop computer, so it was left alone," Ruisi said. "I think they just went for what was easiest to carry."

Although the BU Police Department introduced a free laptop registry program two years ago - in which metal barcode plaques with the department's phone number are attached to computers to track them if they are stolen - none of the five stolen computers were registered.