Immediately following the return from Mid-semester Break, some students fell victim to a series of vehicle break-ins and vandalism. Between
midnight and 7 a.m. Monday, Mar. 5, five cars were broken into in the C-Lot across from the Capital Center. The vehicles had their windows broken and numerous items taken.
Among the items stolen were purses, luggage, a laptop computer, small electronic items and a credit card. The next night – Tuesday, Mar. 6 between 1 and 3 a.m., eight vehicles had their tires slashed in the parking lots behind the College Avenue Apartments and the Department of Public Safety on Sheridan Avenue. Upon investigation, the crimes committed on the two separate nights to not appear to be related to one another.
Public Safety Sergeant Frank Fernandez is head of the investigation for Capital’s Public Safety department.
“We have a video of the break-ins that shows two suspects, who look like they were possibly visiting someone and then broke into the vehicles,” Fernandez said. He stressed that the break-ins were a crime of opportunity, meaning they were not necessarily pre-meditated as much as being noticed and committed at the moment.
Fernandez suggested students to help discourage their vehicles from becoming targets of similar crimes of opportunity. These include not leaving valuables in plain sight within vehicles, locking all doors and closing all windows, as well as moving your car frequently rather than letting it sit in the same parking lot for long periods of time.
Fernandez also reminds students to report anything that looks suspicious to the Public Safety Department and that Public Safety does a 24/7 police escort to any student who feels unsafe or in danger.
“You have to make it difficult for the bad guys,” Fernandez said.
There are currently no suspects or leads in regards to the tire slashing. Public Safety encourages anyone who might have information to talk to
them or Bexley’s Police Department.
Detective Peter Brickey, of the Bexley Police Department, is the head of that department’s investigation into the incidents. Brickey, however, declined comment, stating that the Bexley Police Department was working in cooperation with Public Safety, but that Capital’s Public Safety Department had the main authority in the investigation.
