by Andrea Gardner
Editorial Assistant
Upon returning from the winter holiday vacation, students living in the Oaks Residence Hall found possessions missing and doors not deadbolted.
Upon realizing the missing items, C-bottom resident sophomore Ken Mead said, “I thought it was my friends messing around.”
Mead reported a television set, a Sega Genesis, and two games missing from his room, costing over $400 total, to the Public Safety and Transportation office.
Another victim of the robbery was A-bottom resident, senior Rebecca Rogers. “I had things broken. The stereo was on. I had money stolen out of my desk.”
Oaks Area Coordinator Becky Martinez does not believe that the burglaries extended beyond the Oaks because Stu-Han and Brandt residence halls are rekeyed over the vacation, making them virtuously impossible for even residents to get into. The Oaks remain open over the vacation for out of state and international students.
Martinez described the number of break-ins in the Oaks as “a few. More than a couple but less than several.”
Eric Leavitt, security officer for the University of La Verne was not certain all break ins were reported to Public Safety and Transportation.
Martinez received the reports upon getting back from the vacation and sent a memo to Oaks residents advising them to unprop and deadbolt their doors at all times, though Rogers and Mead both claim to have deadbolted their doors before leaving their rooms.
“It had to have been someone with a key because I deadbolted it before I left,” Mead said.
There was no forced entry in the break-ins, according to Martinez and acting director of Public Safety and Transportation Tom Erickson.
Mead, however, was not completely satisfied with Security. “Campus security doesn’t care. They just come, take a report and never follow up on it,” he said.
In response to Mead’s comment, Erickson said, “Although I didn’t talk to Ken Mead after the investigation, I did pursue it with the Residential Life staff, Student Affairs and the buildings and grounds staff.”
