ONTARIO QUEENS UNIVERSITY IN KINGSTON VICTIMIZED BY COMPUTER THIEVESQueen's Journal - Holiday break-in burns studentsFRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2005 - ISSUE 23, VOLUME 132
Holiday break-in burns students
S T O R Y - By Matt Aikins, Staff Writer

Officers from the Kingston Police Street Crimes Unit arrested Jason John Pimentel, 22, on Dec. 29 after stopping a suspicious vehicle in the Ghetto.

Pimentel, who was wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant, was found in possession of a stolen laptop belonging to Matt Hickling, ArtSci ’05 and a tenant of 262 Earl St.

A maintenance worker discovered the break-in on Dec. 28 while the students living there were away for the winter break. The worker noticed a broken window and contacted the property’s landlord, Peter Holmes.

Derek Watt, Sci ’05, and Christy Seiders, BMus ’05—who are tenants of the house—said Holmes did not attempt to contact them. Watt and Seiders discovered the break-in upon returning to Kingston on Dec. 31 to celebrate New Year’s.

“We just kind of walked in the house and I saw that our TV was missing and I immediately knew that something was wrong,” Watt said.

Watt said a police officer’s card and a note was sitting on their table that read: “break in, call police, what is missing?”

Between six housemates, around $30,000 worth of items was stolen, Watt said. This included TVs, computers, DVDs, CDs, a scanner, clothes, cash, hockey bags, an XBox, and shoes.

“They had time to look through [Watt’s] CD’s and pick out the ones they wanted,” Seiders said.

Watt and Seiders said they were very disappointed by their landlord’s failure to notify them of the break-in.

“I don’t understand why [Holmes] didn’t call us. I find it kind of negligent. We weren’t able to file a list of what was missing until [Jan 7.], after the search,” Watt said.

Holmes refused to comment.

According to Sgt. Robert Rice, head of the Street Crimes Unit, information from Pimentel’s arrest led to a search of an apartment north of Princess and Division, where further stolen items belonging to the house on Earl St. were recovered.

Kingston Police later contacted the tenants on Jan. 5 and informed them a laptop belonging to Hickling had been recovered, along with several other items. Watt and Seiders said the police were unclear on what else had been recovered.

“[The officer] mentioned the laptop and something about DVDs but I didn’t really get much more information. We haven’t gotten any of our stuff back yet,” Watt said.

Sgt. Rice said during the winter break the Street Crimes Unit devotes its attention to preventing break-ins in the Ghetto.

“We focused pretty much solely on the Queen’s area over the holidays with both plainclothes and uniform surveillance,” Sgt. Rice said.

Rice said his unit is responding to student’s concerns over the rising level of break-ins.

“Focus was roughly double [that of] last year, in terms of manpower. There has been an increase in the last few years in break-in and entry,” Rice said.

While he couldn’t give details that might jeopardize the ongoing investigation, Rice said that Pimentel was most likely not acting alone.

“There are other suspects too. My opinion would be they made a conscious decision to target students,” Rice said.

Dave Patterson, director of Campus Security, said Campus Security was fully staffed, “24/7,” over the holidays. In addition to their regular staff compliment, security also patrolled the Ghetto as a visible deterrent to break-ins.

The AMS Municipal Affairs Commission ran the House Check Program over the break, where students could pay a fee to have someone come by their house periodically. Municipal Affairs Commissioner Gord McGuire said the program was successful overall.

“There were 82 sign-ups this year, a new record over last year’s 67,” McGuire said.

According to McGuire, no houses involved in the program reported break-ins.

Pimentel, who is charged with possession of stolen property under $5,000, is scheduled to appear in court today.

Though Watt said $30,000 of valuables was stolen from his house, Kingston Police told his co-tenants that the remaining property missing from the house was most likely dispersed of quickly after the robbery.

Photo by Matt Aikins