Natalia Tomczak
Opinions Editor
Wheely Concerning Activity
On Oct. 5, a bike was stolen at 4 a.m. The owner of the bike did not secure his bicycle to the rack, went to his residence hall, and returned to find that his bicycle was gone. He later found what he believed to be his bicycle on Facebook Marketplace listed around 1:30 p.m.
On Oct. 8, Campus Police was in touch with the seller and then visited the house that the seller told them to meet at. They found two parked vehicles in the driveway, but neither were on campus nor associated with the seller. They spoke with the two residents who advised that they did not know anybody by the seller’s name, but had noticed suspicious activity outside their home since the evening on Oct. 3.
According to them, a known man who appeared to be homeless was dropped off by a vehicle over the weekend with luggage and a bicycle. He appeared to be staying on their property. On Oct. 5, he appeared again, this time with two bicycles.
When campus police checked near where the man had been staying, they found a suitcase and a gallon jug with an unknown liquid. Twenty yards away from the suitcase was a red ShopRite grocery bag with 30-40 pounds of copper piping and wiring. No bike was found in the area.
Campus police contacted Ewing PD to inquire if there had been any reports of copper piping stolen/missing and requested information on the person of interest. He had been arrested previously by Ewing PD on Sept. 12 and 19, both for burglary.
The suspect attempted to sell stolen goods on Facebook Marketplace before, but would then take the listing down in an attempt to cover his tracks. A warrant request for the seller has been completed for receiving stolen property.
Elevator Entrapment
There were two incidents of elevator entrapment on Oct. 8. The first one took place at 1:21 p.m. in the Brower Student Center. When approaching the elevator, Campus Police could hear the students trapped inside.
Ewing Township Fire Squad 31 arrived on the scene and an OTIS elevator representative was able to open the elevator door. The students had no injuries, and the elevator was temporarily placed out of service as OTIS made repairs.
At 5:46 p.m., someone was trapped in an elevator on the ground floor of Travers Hall. Emergency services arrived on the scene and shut the elevator’s power off so the student could be released. A work order was placed to the electric department for OTIS to make repairs. The student had no injuries.
False Alarms
There were nine incidents of fire alarms between Oct. 3 and Oct. 11. They took place in Cromwell Hall, the Physics building, Lot 7 stairwell, Townhouses East and Norsworthy Hall. Causes include: a blow dryer, a faulty report of a carbon monoxide leak, alarm malfunction, steam, an air fryer and improper cooking in a microwave.
