Virginia Hall crime spree

By MAGGIE KARRS

On Dec. 31, residents of Virginia Hall received an email notifying them that a break-in had occurred during winter break and had been discovered the day before. Eight rooms were robbed, one on the first floor of the freshman residence hall and seven on the second.

The break-in was discovered when a Resident Assistant entered Virginia to use the resource room and noticed scaffolding on the second floor had been used to reach windows above the main doors.

According to James DeLoatch, Campus Police business manager, these windows are how Campus Police believe access was gained to the building.

Many small items such as watches, jewelry and DVDs were taken, as well as a few larger electronics. However, other valuable things including textbooks and calculators were left in some of the rooms.

When the break-in was discovered, items were strewn throughout the affected rooms and the rooms were still in that state when the residents entered to see what had been taken.

Several items from some the rooms were taken by the police for fingerprinting evidence and some of the rooms were searched for fingerprints. At least one stolen item had a serial number that could potentially be traced. The police are also keeping an eye on local pawnshops to see if any of the stolen items are sold as stolen items.

While the University is providing no monetary compensation for the stolen items, freshman resident Kate Honeycutt thinks that the school has done an adequate job handling the robbery and initiating an investigation.

“I thought they were as helpful as they could be, I don’t really know if there was anything else they could have done; I just hope that if they know anything they would tell us, especially those who were directly involved,” said Honeycutt.

Another resident, Ashley Rowles, felt that the school should have made a more public statement telling students they are not responsible for losses.

“I mean, I feel like they should have briefed us that if anything ever gets stolen that they won’t cover it,” said Rowles.

Rowles said that since the break-in had occurred while students were not present, she did not feel less safe being on campus.

Campus security, the Fredericksburg police and the Virginia state police are all involved in the investigation. Campus security could not be reached for comment.