By Todd Hildebrandt
Campus Times Staff
Ninety-one University Park storage units were broken into this summer when a Rochester man allegedly forced latches off the doors, entered the unites and removed an unknown amount of property from inside.
Reports of the thefts trickled in throughout August. The first 57 break-ins were reported to Security on Aug. 7, with additional break-in reports filed on Aug. 9 (16 units), Aug. 11 (5 units) and Aug. 12 (13 units), UR Security Investigator Dan Lafferty said.
The Rochester Police Department questioned and arrested James White, 29, Aug. 14 on an unrelated change. White subsequently admitted to involvement in some of the break-ins.
The property is managed by Rochester Management, who notified students of the break-ins as they became aware of them and purchased and replaced the broken clasps and padlocks.
No items stolen from the units have been recovered by security or the RPD, Lafferty said.
Man arrested for various campus thefts
A student spending the night in the Sigma Chi Fraternity House awoke shortly before 5 a.m. on Aug. 29 to see a man going through property in the room, according to security reports.
The student waited until the suspect left the room and then got a couple more residents of the house to search the house to see if he had left. They located the suspect and confronted him when he ran out the back door of the house.
Security was notified and located an individual matching the physical description given by the students. He was arrested on burglary and larceny changes.
A follow-up investigation by the Rochester Police Department found Robert Green, 20, was allegedly involved in earlier thefts at the Drama House, Wilder Tower and Crosby Hall. Green is not affiliated with UR.
CD player stolen from boy near Goler House
A CD player was stolen from a 13-year-old boy near Goler House Sept. 1 by four young boys riding on bikes. A security officer noticed the young boy crying and stopped to ask him if he was all right.
The officer notified the RPD, who arrested two of the four suspects. The other two boys rode across the Elmwood Ave. Bridge and were unable to be located.
The two taken into custody by police were taken to the Public Safety Building for further questioning. They were not affiliated with UR.
The victim was not injured and there were no weapons displayed during the incident. The CD player was recovered and will be returned to the victim.
Messages left for security in Todd Union
Unidentified suspects forced open a set of doors in Todd Union sometime between 8 p.m. Sept. 8 and 10 a.m. causing over $200 worth of damage to the door, according to UR Security reports.
The suspects entered the building and wrote comments on the chalkboards in the building including, ?Hello. I was here at 5:56 a.m.? No items were stolen from inside the area.
Hildebrandt can be reached at thildebrandt@campustimes.org.
