A South Campus apartment was allegedly broken into and robbed of thousands of dollars worth of valuables Saturday evening, all because of a broken lock, believe the students who live there.

During a 90-minute period in which none of the four residents of the 46 Mountfort St. apartment were home, the faulty lock was picked with a bobby pin, the students said. When a resident returned, nearly $5,500 worth of equipment and jewelry was missing, the students said.

One of the residents, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said she left the apartment around 4:45 p.m. Saturday. About 90 minutes later, her roommate, a CAS junior, called and said laptops were missing from their room. The students wished to remain anonymous for fear they were specifically targeted.

The sophomore said she returned around 7 p.m. and realized she was missing her laptop, a 30-gigabyte video iPod, Bose noise-canceling headphones, $50 in quarters for laundry, a digital camera and $100 worth of jewelry, totaling nearly $3,000.

“They ripped through [the sophomore’s] room – pulled the clothes out of the drawers,” the junior said. “They really went through her stuff.”

The South Campus apartment break-in is the second reported theft in a week at Boston University allegedly caused by faulty locks. About $1,500 worth of electronics were stolen from a BU men’s hockey player’s residence on Bay State Road last Monday.

The junior said her $2,500 laptop with television capabilities and flash drive were stolen. The sophomore said nothing was taken from the other two residents, both CAS seniors, but a mangled bobby pin was found behind the front door.

The BU Police Department responded to the incident, and emergency maintenance workers changed the locks to the apartment, but the residents said the locks were still faulty immediately after they were changed.

After the locks were changed, the sophomore said one of her roommates told her to test the door by nudging it with her hip.

“I hit the door, and sure enough, the door popped open,” she said. “I did that twice, and it popped open twice. It didn’t click in fully, so it wasn’t actually locking.”

A residential and commercial locksmith from 24/7 Locksmith shared that he inspected the locks at the Mountfort Street residence at the students’ request, after BU had changed them following the break-in. He mentioned that the locks, while newly installed, are not safe enough for a residence and could benefit from more secure, commercial-grade options.

“I think it’s asking for trouble,” said the locksmith, who would only give his first name, Mickey. “If someone says, ‘Listen, I’m living in a safe place and I don’t need much. I need the basic, most cheap thing I can get,’ [then] sure, why not? [But] I think that in these days, it’d be better if [you got] something more.”

The sophomore said when Mickey explained the locks to her, he demonstrated how easily and quickly he could pick the newly replaced lock.

“I just say that you do better if you’re paying more,” said Mickey, who has been a locksmith for 10 years. “If my son were living in a place like that, I would expect a little bit more security.”

The junior said the residents have had problems with their apartment before, adding their keys have “been floating around” because maintenance comes frequently.

Residents also said they did not think the BUPD did enough to help them after the theft.

“The cops who came gave us the whole, ‘This happens, lock your deadbolt next time . . . be happy you weren’t hurt,'” the junior said. “[They were] so accepting of theft [and] . . . have this attitude that it happens all the time and there’s nothing you could do about it.”

None of the residents slept at the apartment Saturday night because they were worried, the junior said.

“I shouldn’t have to feel unsafe in my own apartment. Look what happened in Warren [Towers], so maybe security doesn’t make a difference either,” she said, referring to an alleged sexual assault that took place in a Warren bathroom early in the morning of Sept. 30.

“What if I was in my room sleeping when they came in?” the junior said. “What would’ve happened? People always have this attitude – ‘I’m invincible. This can’t happen to me’. . . . and then it does.”

The BUPD did not return several messages left over the phone and through email.