By Devyn Briones
Arts & Entertainment Editor
The Signal and Campus Police work together on a weekly basis to inform the campus community about crime on and around campus. All records given to The Signal are public records and do not contain personal information. Some information provided may be triggering for some students.
April 14: Microwaved soup
At approximately 7:10 p.m., Campus Police were dispatched to Townhouses East for a smoking microwave coming from one of the units. A resident of the unit advised that soup was cooking in the microwave when it began to spark and smoke. The food was being cooked in a microwave-safe container, yet the right interior wall of the microwave appeared bubbled and melted, which caused the malfunction. The microwave was removed from the unit and a work order was placed to replace the microwave.
April 15: Wells Fargo fraud
A student reported to the Campus Police headquarters that she had been receiving suspicious phone calls from an unknown number claiming to be Wells Fargo. The student stated that she had received numerous calls from different phone numbers saying that her identity was used to open Wells Fargo accounts and those said accounts were being used for money laundering. The student contacted Wells Fargo fraud department, and they confirmed that there is only one account utilizing her name. These other attempts, as stated by the Wells Fargo representative, are believed to be phishing attempts. The student was advised to be wary of any texts, calls or emails that may seem suspicious.
April 15: Missing wallet
A Ewing Township resident lost his wallet, and believes he lost it when picking up food from Campus Town on April 14 at around 9:18 p.m. On April 15, the resident received fraudulent charges on two of the cards that were in his wallet; both purchases were blocked by their respective institutions. He has frozen the cards that have fraudulent charge attempts, along with the others in his wallet. His vehicle was seen parking, but the majority of his car is out of camera view. The case is marked as closed unfounded due to a lack of investigative leads to follow up on.
April 17: Another missing wallet
Around 4:21 p.m., a student at the College reported his wallet missing. The student stated that around noon he arrived at the Campus Town gym and finished his workout about an hour later. He was using a treadmill near the cubbies and placed his wallet in the cup holder. At 1:50 p.m., he left the gym without securing his wallet in person.
The student claims that he is confident of leaving the gym and forgetting to grab his wallet, but said the alternative is that he could have lost his wallet while traveling through campus. The student realized his wallet was missing around 3:30 p.m., and returned to the gym to check if they had it, but no wallets were lost and found.
The wallet is described as a basic, black leather wallet, with no special markings or brand. It holds his New Jersey driver’s license, his student ID, a debit card, some gift cards, a PBA card and about $100 in bills. The gym only has cameras that capture the initial entrance and the welcome desk.
April 16: Juveniles in Lot 7
Around 7 p.m., a group of 25 to 30 juveniles dispersed and scattered from Lot 7 and made their way towards Lot 12. A separate group of individuals were at the Lot 7 entrance, but claimed that they weren’t sure of what had happened. Campus Police walked towards Lot 12 and intercepted the group of juveniles who stated they were from Lawrenceville. When asked what was occurring amongst the group, the response was that they did not know what had happened and that many people were arguing and yelling at Lot 7 prior to Campus Polices’ arrival. This group was unable to identify anyone involved due to them attending Lawerence High School.
Returning back to Lot 7, two female juveniles who were walking nearby were stopped and asked what had happened. One responded that they did not see anything, just that people were being loud and arguing. A group of high school students from Ewing were spoken to and advised that there was a lot of yelling coming from the area of Lot 7. There was no observation of individuals in a physical altercation, as well as no medical attention needed. Around 7:47 p.m., all individuals left the area.
April 17: Juveniles pt. 2
At approximately 1:27 p.m., Campus Police were informed to receive resource materials in connection with the crowd of juveniles that was observed on campus. Six profiles for the juveniles were given, and five out of the six were current students at Ewing High School. As of the two students that were fighting, one was expelled for an unrelated incident, and the other was suspended.
Only one student present reported that there was a firearm during the fight. That student and his mother reported to Campus Police Headquarters to discuss the incident. The student stated that as he walked near the Campus Town South Lot, he heard someone calling out a name. The student described the individual and claimed that he was holding something in a manner that conveys a firearm is in his pocket, as he was confident it was a firearm. The student stated that the interaction was brief and that he continued to leave campus. The student also was not present for the fight, but gave contact information to someone who was.
April 17: Lost jacket
A non-resident student at the College reported around 6:15 p.m. that she left a medium size men’s green in color bomber style jacket in room 120 of the AIMM Building sometime around April 13. The area was checked along with security camera footage, but nothing was discovered.
April 21: Water Damage
Around 10:49 p.m., a fire alarm was activated in Wolfe Hall. The point of activation was coming from the fifth floor. While there were no signs of smoke or fire present, there was water on the ceiling tile and smoke alarm. Further down the hall had more water and a condom. The trajectory of the water-filled condom looked to be thrown from down the hall, hitting a sprinkler head, popping, and then wetting the smoke alarm, causing the activation. Students were asked if they had seen anyone throwing a water-filled condom, but all responded that they had not.
April 22: Water Damage pt. 2
Around 2:03 a.m., a fire alarm went off in a Wolfe Hall room on floor five. There were no signs of fire or smoke, but the same smoke detector had activated from the water damage from the April 21 incident. At 2:30 a.m., all evacuated residents were allowed to reenter Travers and Wolfe Hall. However, an alarm in one room of the sixth floor of Travers was still activated. After an hour of attempted resets to silence the alarm, all residents of the sixth floor were advised to stay at a friend's dorm for the night.
April 23: Wet cement is not an Etch A Sketch
The recent sidewalk patch work near Alumni Grove was vandalized. Campus Police was notified around 7:36 a.m., and reviewed camera footage by the area. It was seen that the patch work was completed by 1:04 p.m., but from 1:57 p.m. until 5:55 p.m., multiple individuals wrote in the wet concrete as they passed by the sidewalk. No individuals have been identified because of the camera quality and angle. Five separate areas of patch work were completed, three in Alumni Grove, one on the sidewalk leading from Alumni Grove towards Packer Hall and on the large sidewalk between Packer and Eickhoff. All areas had writing etched into them.
April 24: Phishing email
A student had received a phishing email from an email account that appeared to be posing as residential housing. The fake account was sending emails to the student resident accusing them of inappropriate content while on the “Welcome-to-TCNJ” Wi-Fi network. The email gave the student two options: to write a 750 word essay regarding the incident, or to accept “one formal strike” and pay a fine of $50. However, there was no link or directions given to pay the fine. The email used to get in contact with the student used “@gmail.com,” whereas all official emails from the College contain “tcnj.edu.” The student was directed to contact the IT department and report the suspicious email.
April 26: Hair dryer
An activated smoke detector went off in a Cromwell Hall room. The student resident of the room said she was using a hair dryer when the smoke detector in her room activated, and how this is not the first time it’s gone off when using the hair dryer. There was no smoke or fire in the residence.
