Bailey Rankin, ‘Doah Staff Writer 
January 23, 2013

An employee of the Physical Plant Office downloads information from one of the rooms items were stolen from, in order to check the identification of every I.D. card used to open the door.

A number of students returned from break to find they were missing something. At some point during the winter break, a break-in occurred in the University Inn residence hall. An assortment of items was stolen including game systems, stereos, and the brand new TV in the lobby.

Michael Tippen, who lives on the fourth floor, had jars of quarters and pennies stolen from his room. His roommate, Jacob Belkin, had a video game stand taken. Belkin said, “I’m really upset that someone would take advantage of the students at S.U. and take their possessions like money, games and external hard drives over a break. It makes me mistrust the school and the people here.”

No students were in the building over the break. I.D. card access was deactivated during this time. Therefore, no one should have been able to enter the building, without the use of a master key.

An investigation into the incident is currently ongoing. The Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Winchester police are diligently working together in order to discover who is responsible for the thefts.

On Tuesday, Jan. 15., all I.D. card swipes were reset in an effort to make the building as inaccessible to outsiders as possible. Every time a student swipes a card to get into any building their name and picture pops up on a screen in the DPS office. They should be able to go through the swipe history that occurred over the break and hopefully narrow down the search.

There is also still no conclusive evidence as to who set the fire that occurred in the U.I. last semester. This is a cause for concern for some students. They fear that the culprit is still living among them on campus, along with the person or persons involved in the theft. However, DPS is working hard to uncover the truth, as students’ safety is a key concern for them.

If anyone has information about these crimes you should call the Winchester Police Department at (540) 545-4704 or Crime Solvers at (540) 665-TIPS.