Suspicious men reported at Heritage Halls may be linked to thefts

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    By Andy North

    A report of two suspicious men in a girls dorm may be linked to recent apartment complex thefts.

    Police say the recent thefts to the north and west of campus are very similar to a report received Saturday night, Sept. 23.

    Two men tried to enter various apartments in Heritage Halls’ Shipp Hall, said Rick Moreno, University Police crime prevention officer.

    “They pretended to know someone in the apartment and tried to get the girls to let them in,” Moreno said.

    Moreno said one of the men had bleached-blond hair and a baseball cap which matches the description of a suspect in a recent string of off-campus burglaries.

    Natalie Jones, 18, a freshman from Chicago, majoring in education, who lives in Shipp Hall, said two men came to the front door and asked for her roommate Kristin.

    “They described Kristin as tall, but our Kristin is short,” Jones said. “No one knew who they were, but they just came in anyway.”

    Jones said all of the names of the girls were on a list outside of the door, and she thought they might have taken her roommate’s name from there.

    “I had a bad feeling about the two,” Jones said. “When I saw the two men trying to open other doors in the building I called the police.”

    Sandra Clark, 18, a freshman, from San Antonio, Texas, majoring in microbiology, lives in one of the apartments above Jones.

    Clark said the two men came to her apartment around 11 p.m. asking for a guy named Jack.

    “I told them there were no guys in my apartment, but that maybe the guy they were looking for was visiting Amy’s apartment next door,” Clark said. “When they walked away they said to say ‘hi’ to Jack if I saw him.”

    Clark said they went next door and tried to get in using the name she had given them.

    Moreno said all of the witnesses described one of the men as having a medium build with beached-blond hair and a tan or light-colored hat.

    The other suspect had a broad face, dark hair and a slightly larger build.

    Moreno cautioned students to stay alert and lock their doors.

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