NEW JERSEY COMPUTERS STOLEN Forbes thefts investigated by Public Safety - The Daily Princetonian:

NEWS | Crime | Sept. 28
Forbes thefts investigated by Public Safety

By Nan Hu
Staff Writer

Published: Monday, September 28th, 2009

Burglars entered several students’ rooms in the Main Inn of Forbes College late Tuesday morning, taking laptop computers, other electronic equipment and cash, according to a campus safety alert sent to the University community on Tuesday.

The initial e-mail sent to all members of the student body stated that the thefts occurred between 10:45 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and that only two rooms were burglarized.

But in a later e-mail sent only to Forbes residents, Forbes College Master Christian Wildberg narrowed the timeframe to between 10:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. and reported burglaries in four rooms.

Public Safety officers also knocked on the doors of Forbes residents on Thursday, asking if they had seen anything suspicious and urging them to call Public Safety or contact the University’s anonymous tip line if they had any information.

Forbes resident Courtney Fieldman ’12, whose laptop was stolen, said she was “very upset when it happened.”

“I had to work two jobs to get that computer,” Fieldman said. “I hate to see it go out of my hands like that.”

She explained that she had known a fire drill was to occur sometime on Tuesday, and she had worried that something might happen to her computer during the drill.

“I was gone all day,” Fieldman said, “I knew I should have taken my computer that day.”

“It took me a while to figure out what had happened to my computer,” she added, noting that she thought a friend or her roommate might have borrowed it. But after talking to others in her hall, she said, she realized that her computer had been stolen.

Fieldman added that two iPods, one belonging to her and one to her roommate, are also missing.

Fieldman said it would have been difficult for non-students to get into her hall, which is behind a door that can only be opened by prox.

“If a student had taken it, no one can tell [if it was stolen], because it’s just a guy with a laptop,” Fieldman noted.

But she added that there is a possibility that the thefts were not perpetrated by students.

“People could have waited by the doors for someone to open them and then come in,” Fieldman said.

This possibility is the driving force behind Public Safety’s investigation into the thefts. In his e-mail, Wildberg attached a message from Investigator Alvan Flanders asking students to report any suspicious activities.

“Did you see anyone unusual enter or exit a dormitory room on the second or third floors of Forbes College, Main Building?” Flanders said in the e-mail. “This same person may have been standing outside of Forbes College waiting for the opportunity to have someone let them in, or they may have pulled a door open.”

Flanders did not respond to requests for comment over the weekend.

Forbes resident Gabe Eggers ’13 said he felt Public Safety’s decision to go door-to-door to talk to students was appropriate and justified.

“I personally didn’t have a problem with it,” he said. “They’re just trying to do their job.”

But Fieldman said she would have preferred more preventative actions on the part of Public Safety.

“I don’t know why they don’t have cameras in these hallways,” she said. “I mean, they don’t need to look at everything, but at these key moments, it’d be helpful.”