Hi everyone,

I'm an RA in Crothers and we wanted warn everyone about a series of laptop thefts and related incidents that have occurred in Crothers over the past few weeks. We've reported all of the following information to the police, and figured it was isolated to Crothers, but have begun hearing about more thefts across campus, possibly by the same man. Although no one has witnessed the actual thefts, both times that laptops were reported stolen in the last few weeks at Crothers, residents and staff members described seeing an unfamiliar white, middle-aged man around 5'8" near the rooms where the items were taken.

It was communicated to us to not approach suspicious individuals and let the police figure out if they are legit or not. Trying to check out their story by asking around/talking to RAs may delay the police response and let them escape.

Feb 20th: Stolen Laptop
Around the same time that a laptop was stolen, residents described seeing an unfamiliar white, middle-aged man (possibly in his 40s), with glasses, wearing a purple long sleeve dress shirt, and carrying a backpack.

March 12th: Stolen Laptop
Around the same time that another laptop was stolen, a staff member reported seeing a white, middle-aged man, with glasses and no facial hair, around 5'8", dressed in a blue jacket and a baseball cap, carrying a black laptop bag,
This man acted very friendly, yet suspiciously, whilst walking around the dorm. He waved into an empty room (as if greeting someone), but pulled out his phone and began talking while walking away when an RA approached him.

March 15th: Suspicious Male
Residents and staff members described seeing a white, middle-aged, bald man, without glasses or facial hair, about 5'8", dressed in a black shirt and black pants.

This man claimed to work for ResEd, heading to a workshop in a non-existent room in Crothers. He showed a calendar event for the workshop on his iPhone to a resident when asking to be let into the dorm, claiming that his badge wasn't working. We called the police, but they were not able to locate this man in the dorm.

These laptops were stolen from unlocked rooms. Of special concern to us was how confident, knowledgeable, and prepared the thief seemed to be (in the last case, he knew how rooms in Crothers were lettered and numbered, had a calendar event ready on his phone, and mentioned that he worked for ResEd).

Thanks,