In the latest of a string of burglaries, four suites in four different buildings in the Lambeth Field Apartment complex reported having items stolen from their unlocked rooms early Tuesday morning. An East Lawn room and a West Range room were also burglarized in the past two weeks.
An e-mail sent to all Lambeth residents stated that the burglaries occurred around 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. All of the burglarized suites were on the first floor of the buildings and the suite doors had been unlocked, according to second-year College student Thomas Olszewski, a Lambeth resident who lives near one of the burglarized suites.
"It's scary ... [and] kind of surprising that it would happen so close," Olszewski said. "People really need to be more careful."
Fourth-year College student Katie Cristol, a current Lawn resident, recently had her laptop stolen from her unlocked dorm room while she was visiting a fellow Lawn resident only a few doors down.
"My uncomfortable suspicion is that someone was watching my room and saw me leave ... because I was only gone for a short time," Cristol said.
She said her doors were closed but she had left them unlocked because she knew she would not be out for long.
Another victim of the recent burglaries was third-year graduate student and West Range resident, Tyler Davis.
Davis said her brand new Apple laptop was stolen from her room while she was out last Saturday night.
Her door was locked, but she suspects that the burglar entered through the window near her desk, which was left cracked open, she said.
"[The Range] is not an unsafe area per se, and there is always a large police presence," Davis said. "I am just shaken up that such a crime would happen in a place like that."
Davis has been in contact with a person claiming to have bought the computer off a stranger at the Downtown Mall and is working with police in hopes of retrieving it.
Dean of Students Penny Rue expressed her concern about the recent burglaries and urged students to keep their eyes out, report any suspicious circumstances to police, do not listen to MP3 players or talk on cell phones while walking at night, utilize Yellow Cab and Saferide and always walk in groups.
Since the burglaries, both Davis and Cristol have been very careful about keeping their doors and windows locked.
"We pride ourselves on that community of trust but we also need to be very vigilant," Rue said.
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