By Mary Jo Frank
Employee charged with embezzlement
A student adviser in the School of Nursing, who has worked at the U-M for 22 years, has been charged with embezzling more that $100. She was arrested and arraigned in Ann Arbor’s 15th District Court Jan. 5.
University Police arrested the 48-year- old Ann Arbor resident after a student reported irregularities in the handling of student grant applications. When a larger-than-expected grant came in, the employee asked the student to cash the check and return the extra so she could give it to another student who needed money.
U-M Police Lt. James R. Smiley says it appears that several students were involved and that the employee pocketed more than $9,000.
Embezzling over $100 is a felony and can result in a 10-year sentence.
Housing Division officer arrested for breaking and entering
A Housing Division security officer was arrested and arraigned Jan. 5 in Ann Arbor’s 15th District Court, charged with breaking into a room in South Quadrangle and stealing more than $40. Breaking and entering is a felony and can result in a 10-year sentence.
Smiley said the Ypsilanti resident’s employment has been terminated and the investigation continues; the defendent is suspected of another larceny.
Bottle bomb incidents lead to arrest
A first-year student from Evanston, Ill., has been arrested and arraigned for manufacturing and placing explosives. The South Quadrangle resident was arrested Dec. 11 for making bottle bombs and placing them inside the residence hall. No one was injured.
The 18-year-old physical education student is charged with one count of manufacturing and two counts of placing explosives. Manufacturing and placing explosives are felonies and can result in a five-year sentence and four-year sentence, respectively. The student waived his preliminary exam and has been bound over to Washtenaw County Circuit Court, Smiley reports.
Taking a bite out of crime
Year-end campus crime statistics show decreases in a number of categories, including aggravated assaults, burglaries, larcenies, larceny from a building, rape, robbery and vehicle thefts.
Smiley attributes the decrease in serious crimes to University Police presence on campus and the arrests of criminals before they have a chance to repeat offenses. The University began deputizing its own police officers in 1991.
The number of incidents per year are down for:
—Aggravated assaults, 13 in 1992 compared with 34 in 1991.
—Burglaries, 163 in 1992 compared with 232 in 1991;
—First and third-degree criminal assaults, nine in 1992 compared with 15 in 1991;
—Larcenies, 392 in 1992 compared with 427 the year before;
—Larceny from a building, 1,631 in 1992 compared with 1,720 in 1991;
—Robbery, six in 1992 compared with 20 in 1991.
The U-M recorded one homicide in 1992. The number of second- and fourth- degree criminal assaults increased by one, from 14 in 1991 to 15 in 1992.
Although serious crimes were down, overall the number of incidents reported to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) increased 32.6 percent in 1992 over the previous year.
The number of requests for locking and unlocking of rooms and buildings more than doubled, from 2,208 to 5,028. Motorist assists increased from 2,248 to 3,490 and general assistance requests increased from 2,879 to 5,931. Parking violations more than doubled, jumping from 772 to 1,522.
The increase in requests for service, Smiley says, is due to a growing awareness on the part of the campus community of a positive police presence.
