Four Boston University students reported approximately $5,000 of their property stolen from their South Campus apartment after it was broken into Thursday afternoon, just one day after BU Buildings and Ground Department workers answered a call for repairs.
Resident Amanda Smith said she thinks the thief entered the 455 Park Drive apartment easily because her room’s lock and corresponding deadbolt were still broken, despite notification from B&G that they had been repaired.
Smith said the residents filed a complaint about their deadbolt, which had been broken all semester, but no one came to fix it. On Wednesday, the door’s remaining lock broke and the roommates called B&G.
Smith, a Sargent College of Rehabilitation Sciences junior, said she left a note for maintenance workers and, when she and her roommates returned, found a notice of entry on a table stating that both locks had been fixed. According to the notice, BU maintenance workers entered the apartment at 3:25 p.m. on Wednesday for a ‘complete maintenance request.’
Maryette Stuart, also a SAR junior, said both locks were still broken when she and her roommates left the room on Thursday, just prior to the theft.
Stuart said she thinks the situation is suspicious.
‘He had to get in the door downstairs first, so unless someone let him in, or he had a key or somehow was able to break in through that door,’ she said. ‘There’s no sign of forced entry, so clearly they were just able to push the door open.’
The thief must have had good timing to find the four-occupant apartment empty, Stuart said.
‘The chances of getting that just right . . . and then also the fact that our locks had been broken,’ Stuart said. ‘He didn’t try to get into anyone else’s apartment. We’re not blaming anyone at BU, but it all just seems a little too weird.” ‘
The break in occurred between 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., Smith said. The thief stole three laptops, a camera and jewelry, as well as a duffel bag and a pillowcase to possibly carry the stolen items from the building, Smith said.
SAR junior Allie Dolce said her bank called on Sunday to report a $700 charge from T-Mobile and Sprint to her account. The thief may have broken into Dolce’s laptop and gotten her account information, Smith said.
The residents said they want to be reimbursed for their computers, and filled out risk management forms. They are now waiting to hear whether they will be compensated.
‘If they don’t say they’re going to pay for our laptops, we’re going to fight it,’ she said.’ ‘
BU Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire confirmed that an estimated $5,000 worth of physical property was stolen. He said the case is still under investigation.
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I don’t know about B&G, because I am not a BU student. However, I live near the Hotel Commonwealth. And, from what I observe, I don’t trust all of the BU Police. One of them in particular likes to strand outside the entrance of the hotel and scope out the babes in miniskirts who are there to enter the night club. He doesn’t hide his roving eyes. Therefore, perhaps an independent agency should be brought in to investigate this dorm robbery. Otherwise, the BU policy may protect B&G and destroy evidence that the dorm robbery was an “inside job”.