Crime Log entries are selected from Northeastern’s Division of Public Safety reports.
Tuesday, February 22 10 p.m. Police were called to the Snell Library where staff reported a suspicious person making inappropriate use of the computers. Officers located him, and upon questioning discovered he was wanted by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police on a previous trespassing charge. William Pena, 18, of Dorchester, was arrested on a default warrant and arraigned at Roxbury District Court the next day. He has no affiliation with the university.
Wednesday, February 23 2 p.m. The manager at Wollaston’s at the Marino Center detained a shoplifter stealing a sandwich. The 22-year-old male student attempting to steal the sandwich has been banned from both Wollaston’s locations on campus and will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR).
11:15 p.m. Police responded to reports that two men had gone into the Marino Center food court and climbed up on a trash can, over the railing and upstairs without going through the turnstiles. Officers found the males on the third floor. Upon questioning, police discovered one of the men had also been reported mooning in the West Village courtyard. Khris Bontos, 18, of Lynn, was arrested for trespassing and for lewd and gross behavior, and Matthew Plassman, 18, of Peabody, was arrested for trespassing. Both were arraigned in Roxbury District Court the next day. Neither has any connection to Northeastern.
Thursday, February 24 9 a.m. Northeastern filed criminal charges in Roxbury District Court against Charmell Lee, 51, of Hemenway Street. She was charged with crimes relating to the theft of pocketbooks and use of stolen credit cards that were taken in the Marino Center in November. Northeastern police were able to track Lee down by tracing the use of the stolen credit cards, and in some cases there were videos of her making purchases with them.
11:30 p.m. The car that had been reported stolen from Robinson Lot on Jan. 22 was recovered in Orlando, Fla. Orlando police authorities arrested Richard Robertson, 28, of Boston. The Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD) had arrested him in July 2003 when he was found sleeping in the lobby of Dodge Hall and discovered he was wanted for failing to appear in court on a charge of stealing a different car in Boston.
3:30 p.m. A 19-year-old female student reported her purse was snatched by a man who ran past her on the sidewalk just as she left Davenport A. Her purse contained credit cards, $2 and a $50 gift card. She was uninjured in the incident.
8 p.m. A student returned to his apartment at 136 Hemenway St. and discovered his laptop missing. He had been out of the apartment from about 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. It appeared the thief gained entrance to the apartment through an unlocked window accessible from the fire escape.
Friday, February 25 12:30 a.m. A Resident Assistant (RA) in Loftman Hall requested assistance for a noisy party. Police discovered a 19-year-old male was hosting the party, and identified five females and four males, all under 21, some of whom were students. Officers also identified the 16-year-old sister of one of the 18-year-old female students, and found about a dozen bottles of hard liquor in the closet. The 16-year-old was brought back to Public Safety headquarters and her parents were contacted. The students will all be referred to OSCCR.
1:30 p.m. A woman who had attended a conference in the Egan Center reported she had left her pocketbook on a coat rack in the corridor all morning and when she went back for it at lunchtime, she discovered her wallet missing. It contained $20 and some credit cards, one of which had already been used.
Saturday, February 26 8 p.m. A female student came into headquarters to report she had just had an argument with her boyfriend, who is not a student, and while they were in her apartment in Davenport Commons, she alleged he bit her hand. Police located the male non-student and he reported she had been blocking the door, so he might have bit her hand to get her to move out of the way. He was told not to return to campus, and neither has chosen to press charges.
Tuesday, March 1 11 a.m. An officer on Leon Street outside the construction site saw a car coming up the street the wrong way. The officer stepped out into the street to stop the car, but it continued to proceed down the street without slowing down, forcing the officer to jump to get out of the way. The officer called for back-up, and the driver was discovered parked outside the Curry Student Center. Daniel Marks, a 22-year-old student who resides off campus, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.
Friday, March 4 11 a.m. A 20-year-old female resident of 134 Hemenway St., the same building where a male student had previously had his laptop stolen, called because she was awakened when she heard someone shaking her doorknob. When she asked who was there, the person said it was a neighbor looking to borrow something. By the time she got up and went to the door, there was no one there. Police checked with neighbors, and no one reported having gone to her door.
2 p.m. The Curry Student Center (CSC) staff reported disorderly high school students in the building. Police responded and asked the students to leave. Most were cooperative and left, but one student was uncooperative with the officer, refusing to present identification and swearing at the officer. He was identified as a 16-year-old student who attends a charter high school close to campus. He was told not to come back to campus.
4 p.m. A female evening student reported she had left her backpack in a third floor study room in Dodge Hall when she went to the bathroom. When she came back, it was gone. The backpack contained credit cards, a textbook and a calculator.
7 p.m. A staff member in the Mugar Life Sciences Building left her office to go down the hall for five minutes and left the door unlocked. When she came back there was a stranger standing in the office next to a laptop computer. When she asked him what he was doing, he ran.
Saturday, March 5 5 p.m. A high school student who had participated in a science fair held in the Cabot cage all day reported he had left his backpack in the cage for an hour and a half and when he returned it was missing. The backpack contained $300 and debit cards.
11:30 p.m. An RA from 337 Huntington Ave. requested assistance from police after smelling what appeared to be marijuana. The 19-year-old male resident admitted he had been smoking and turned over a small amount of marijuana. He will be referred to OSCCR.
Sunday, March 6 12:30 a.m. A 21-year-old female student who is a residence hall proctor was walking home to her private apartment near Tremont Street when, while on Columbus Avenue, she was knocked off her feet by a man on a bicycle who came by and grabbed her purse. The purse contained several credit cards. About an hour later the Boston Police Department (BPD) contacted NUPD to report that a person had approached a Boston Police officer on St. Stephen Street reporting two men had tried to rob him in an apartment foyer. BPD located the two men, and the previous victim identified one of them as the man who had robbed her. Samuel Dixon, 37, who resides on Massachusetts Avenue, was arrested for robbery. The person he was with was arrested by BPD for attempted robbery.
1 p.m. BPD put out a radio broadcast that two people had just stolen over a dozen videos from the Blockbuster on Massachusetts Avenue and were running in the direction of campus. NUPD located the two men and were able to detain one of them. As the officer ordered the man to put his hands up, 13 DVDs fell out of his coat. The other man fled, but was later located. He also had 13 DVDs on him. BPD arrested the 39-year-old man and the 50-year-old man, both who are local residents.
3:30 p.m. An RA from 780 Columbus Ave. reported during Spring Break, when room inspections were being conducted, they had found a marijuana pipe and had changed the locks on the door. The student had returned and was trying to get back in. Police met with the 21-year-old male resident and the student turned over a pipe on the desk that he claimed was his roommate’s, and denied ever smoking in the apartment. The 20-year-old male student roommate acknowledged the pipe was his, but said he regularly smoked with his roommate. Both will be referred to OSCCR.
Monday, March 7 9 a.m. The staff at Snell Library reported a middle-aged man who frequents the library but doesn’t have any Northeastern affiliation, had been acting inappropriately toward the staff on a number of occasions. A 59-year-old man from Boston was told he was no longer welcome at the library.
9:30 a.m. A staff member in Ryder Hall reported she left her office unattended for about an hour and a half in the morning and when she returned, her pocketbook was missing. It contained a cell phone, her checkbook and several credit cards.
2:30 p.m. The manager of Wollaston’s at the Marino Center reported he was detaining a shoplifter. An 18-year-old male student admitted to stealing a bottle of shampoo because the line at the register was too long. He was banned from both Wollaston’s locations and will be referred to OSCCR.
5:30 p.m. A 20-year-old female student in Rubenstein Hall called to report her credit cards and cash were missing from her apartment. She had discovered them missing earlier in the afternoon, and when she called to check on the credit cards, she found $500 had been charged to them. When officers questioned when the theft might have occurred, the student reported that at around 3 a.m. Sunday morning she was awakened by a knock on the door. She got up and answered the door, and it was a friend from upstairs. While they were talking, an unidentified man walked out from one of the bedrooms in the apartment and out the doorway. Neither the student nor her friend confronted the man. One of her roommates who resides in the second bedroom also reported she was awakened by the same knock on the door, and when she woke up, she also saw this man in her bedroom, who then left. All three students assumed he was lost and was the guest of people who had a party upstairs earlier that night, and he had wandered into the wrong apartment. The students also informed officers the door had been unlocked because they were waiting for their third roommate to return home.
