By Jane R. Elgass
Residence hall burglaries prompt reminder
Four burglaries from unlocked residence hall rooms in September have prompted the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to remind students to lock their doors, even while they are in the room. A purse was stolen some time in the early morning hours of Sept. 5 from a room in East Quadrangle. A cell phone was taken from a room in Markley around noon on Sept. 5. A wallet containing $20 in cash, credit cards and an ATM card was taken from a room in West Quadrangle mid-afternoon Sept. 5. A purse was taken from a room in South Quadrangle Sept. 11 while the resident was asleep. The purse was found in a hallway, with everything still in it except $90 in cash.
“Students need to remember that they are not living at home anymore,” says DPS Deputy Director James R. Smiley. “They should lock their doors and take other precautions to decrease their vulnerability.”
Three arsons reported
Three arsons were reported to DPS in September. The Ann Arbor Fire Department responded to a 1:55 a.m. call from a passerby on Sept. 17 reporting a burning kiosk south of the Natural Sciences Building. Singed toilet paper and cigarettes were found Sept. 5 by a custodian cleaning a restroom in the Towsley Center. DPS officers extinguished a sidewalk trash bin fire at 2 p.m. Sept. 27 near Pierpont Commons. Smiley notes that all DPS vehicles carry fire extinguishers.
Home invasion investigated
DPS officers are still looking for a suspect in a Sept. 2 home invasion incident at a Northwood IV family housing unit. The victim was sleeping on a couch when she heard a sliding door being moved. The victim screamed and the suspect fled the scene without entering.
Car thief arrested
A suspect has been arrested in the theft of a 1999 black Jeep Wrangler from the second level of the Church Street structure that occurred sometime during the night of Sept. 13–14. The car had been parked at 9:45 p.m. and was reported stolen around 3 a.m. The victim’s credit card and a cell phone were in the vehicle. When the victim made arrangements to cancel the credit card, he was told that four attempts to use it had been made at a Meijer store, three of them successful in purchasing around $700 worth of goods. Smiley says Pittsfield Township Police were instrumental in helping apprehend the suspect, who had a juvenile accomplice, as they had stopped the stolen vehicle before the theft was reported to a county-wide system.
The Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney has issued a six-count warrant against the suspect, who waived a Sept. 20 preliminary examination. The suspect is in jail and the case is pending in Circuit Court. The six counts are conspiracy in unlawful driving away of an automobile (UDAA), UDAA, forgery of a stolen license plate, two counts of misuse of a financial transaction device and refusing to obey the order of an officer. The juvenile faces the same charges in Probate Court.
Equipment stolen
DPS officers are investigating the Sept. 26 theft of an $8,500 projector from the Slusser Gallery in the Art and Architecture Building and the theft that same day of a Dell laptop computer from a lecture hall in the G.G. Brown Building.
Forcible fondling investigated
DPS officers are continuing their investigation of a reported forcible fondling incident involving two male employees that allegedly occurred sometime between July 1 and Sept. 1 in Markley Hall.
