Two South Campus apartments were robbed of electronics and jewelry worth more than $2,000 during Thanksgiving break, according to Boston University student residents who said the belongings were stolen even though they carefully locked their doors before leaving last week.
The doors to the Buswell Street apartments did not appear to be forcefully opened, said College of Arts and Sciences junior Veronica Barila. Her jewelry and recently purchased Apple MacBook Pro were taken from her apartment, along with some of her roommate’s jewelry, she said.
Barila said she locked the deadbolts on the front and back doors of her apartment before leaving for break, but when her roommate returned, she found the back door open and their possessions missing.
The apartment below Barila’s was also broken into and robbed of electronics and other items, she said. That room’s back door was also left open after the alleged theft, and a student living there told Barila her laptop and iPod were stolen, along with her roommate’s cellphone and speakers, she said.
Resident assistant Jennifer Maietta sent an email to her residents around 6 p.m. yesterday telling them the two apartments had been robbed.
Although the door did not appear to be damaged, Barila said she suspects someone had a key to the room and said she is worried her apartment could be broken into again.
“It was not [a] forced entry,” she said. “I wanted to get the locks changed so we can sleep in our apartment.”
Barila said she went to the South Campus Office of Residence Life yesterday morning to request her apartment’s locks be changed before dark.
“Nobody was super sympathetic to anything that was happening,” she said.
Barila said she paid $110 for her locks to be changed within 24 hours. As of 10:30 p.m., they had not been changed, she said.
“I called Building and Grounds, and they said I’d have to wait until tomorrow,” she said.
While Barila said she debated staying elsewhere last night, she decided to spend the night in her apartment.
Barila said she and her roommate both filed reports with the BU Police Department yesterday.
The BUPD was unavailable for comment last night.
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