Laptop, iPod stolen from Bay State Rd.

Two men allegedly stole $1,500 worth of electronics from a Boston University hockey player when they broke into his Bay State Road room after opening the brownstone’s broken door yesterday afternoon. The suspects walked into 208 Bay State Rd. by jiggling a faulty door handle that sticks occasionally, according to residents. Bay State resident Paige Clark said she entered the building with her roommate around 2:30 p.m. and noticed two men, whom she thought may have been maintenance workers, walking behind them. Clark said she closed the door in their faces because they looked “sketchy.” “I closed our bedroom door after I walked in the house and heard them open the [main] door behind us, after it was completely shut,” said Clark, a College of Communication junior. “The door definitely closed between us and them.” Clark said the door probably became stuck when she closed it, and the men were able to push it open. She said she watched the men from her door’s peephole and noted they were wearing navy blue. The suspects stole a laptop, an iPod and iPod speakers worth about $1,500 from BU hockey player Brian Strait’s second-floor room that was reportedly locked throughout the day. Boston University Police Department officers investigated the break-in but as of last night could not provide specific information about the theft. The incident comes a few days after an attempted break-in at 165 Bay State Road on Friday. Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Marco Oldsman said Clark told him two suspicious men were in the building. He said the front-door alarm blared because the door was open for too long, but he attributed it to the broken handle. Later, he saw two men going upstairs to the second floor and then leaving with a large black backpack. “I would have noticed if they were carrying a computer and stuff, but they were just carrying one backpack, so it didn’t look suspicious,” Oldsman said. “They looked like college students.” Strait’s roommate, Eric Gryba, said he realized his room was broken into when he saw the door was locked but partially open. Gryba, a Metropolitan College sophomore and Strait’s teammate, said he had problems with the doors previously. “The lock on the door downstairs has been like that for a few weeks now, and I guess [our resident assistant] had [Facilities Management] come today, come this morning, but the girl downstairs had said the door closed behind her, so it must have happened again,” Gryba said. Strait, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said he did not know his computer was missing until 6:30 p.m. Although BUPD officers are looking into the theft, he said it will be difficult to find the suspects. “I gave the cop my serial number for my speakers, but unless [the suspects] messed it up and took it to get fixed or if the cops seized a bunch of stuff, there’s no way they’re going to find it,” Strait said. Oldsman said he left a note for his RA, C.J. Esposito, explaining the main door was jammed yesterday morning. According to a Facebook.com message sent to the group “206-208 Bay State 07-08” from Esposito, he called Facilities Management and thought they had fixed the door. “Please do not let anyone follow you into the house if you do not know who they are,” Esposito wrote. In a follow-up message later in the evening, Esposito said a locksmith sprayed the door handle in an effort to make sure it does not become stuck any more.