Laptop Thief Arrested by Hartford Police in the Library

BEN GAMBUZZA ’20
MANAGING EDITOR
A man unaffiliated with Trinity was arrested in the library last night. His accomplice, who escaped, and he, have been connected with a string of stolen laptops that have taken place throughout the semester. The man arrested has been described as a young, Caucasian male. The series of events began when a Trinity student called the IT help desk at 6:25pm and told Dehryen Williams ’18— who was working there at the time—that two men were walking around the library suspiciously.
Molly Schineller ’18— who was also working at the help desk—told The Tripod. The student who called also had seen them steal a laptop. Williams told the student to call campus safety immediately. Williams also called campus safety himself to report the issue.
Ben Cuca ’19, who was working in the library at the time, also noticed a younger man “circling around the library…for most of the evening.” He heard a “loud yell,” went to the staircase, and witnessed Campus Safety officers running down the stairs. Cuca saw the officers grab the young man and interrogate him with questions such as “what is your name?” and “do you go here?” He answered these questions neither in the affirmative nor the negative.
The Trinity student whose laptop was in the suspect’s bag, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Tripod that she went to dinner and left her laptop in the library. After asking her friend to check on her computer, her friend informed her that it had been stolen.
Between the time of the call and the time that Schineller walked up to Level A and saw the suspect sitting down surrounded by Campus Safety and Hartford police officers, the suspects were tackled down the staircase. One allegedly got away, the other, who was apprehended, reportedly incriminated his accomplice when questioned by police.
The student whose laptop was stolen came back to claim her computer and was told by Hartford police that Campus Safety had caught the man who stole her computer, but not his accomplice.
Campus Safety has not released any comment on the situation as of the publishing of this article. Witnesses have attested strongly to the swiftness of Campus Safety’s response, which has been estimated to be five minutes from the time of the initial phone call to the arrest, and their handling of this issue. Updates from Campus Safety and involved parties are expected to follow.