By Kevin Clack, Sports Editor
On the morning of Aug. 3, an unidentified white male entered Dugan Library, broke into the Scooter’s cash register and ransacked the bookstore and office stealing food and personal hygiene items.
The damages to the register are valued over $5000, and there have been no arrests.
The burglary happened between 2:25 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. but wasn’t noticed until 8:30 a.m. when book store manager Larry Williams walked behind the Scooter’s counter and turned on the lights.
“That was when I first noticed that the Scooter’s area had been trashed,” Williams said. “At that point I didn’t touch anything and I called Mo.”
Williams said it was not until after the police arrived that he noticed his own office had also been broken into.
“He basically dumped over file cabinets like he was looking for something, but to the best of my knowledge nothing was stolen out of my office,” he said.
“Somehow he got in the building, but we still don’t know how that happened because we have no signs of forced entry anywhere,” Director of Security Mo Floyd said.
Floyd said it’s still unclear on how the burglar then gained access within the building going from the student center side to the library side, but is certain the suspect did not get in with keys.
Based on the surveillance footage, Floyd said, the officer on duty that night missed important signs.
“As part of a nightly routine, the officer that was working that night made a pass through Dugan,” he said, “The problem was he only made a pass through the student center side of the building.”
Floyd said that at 2:30 a.m. the officer only checked the conference room doors, leaving possible entrances into the bookstore and library unchecked.
“We go through the whole building, not to just prevent crime, but if there’s a maintenance issue - like a leak - I’d rather find out about it sooner than later,” he said.
Along with not completely securing the building, the officer made other obvious mistakes like missing lights going on and off in offices, and flashlights shining in windows, Floyd said.
Newman hires security guards from the third-party company Smart Security.
“The issue with the officer only walking through half of the building was immediately addressed with the security company and the officer has taken employment somewhere else,” he said.
Floyd said he’s given the security company a copy of the surveillance video, and they’re going to use it to train their officers.
Photo: BOTH THE COUNTER at Scooter’s and Larry William’s office were broken into on the morning of Aug 3. Courtesy photo, Larry Williams
