Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Jessica Lillie The empty wall mount in Grosshuesch Hall.

Media Credit: Jessica Lillie The Tv in Muehlmeier is identical to the TV stolen from Grosshuesch.

Media Credit: Jessica Lillie The TV is now securely bolted to the wall.

As the last of the student body was leaving campus for Christmas break, a 46-inch Samsung flat screen television was stolen from Grosshuesch Hall. The first person to notice that the TV was no longer hanging on the wall was Resident Assistant Chris Grotegut. The TV is thought to have been removed from the common area of the residence hall on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009, somewhere between the hours of 3 a.m. and 9 a.m.

According to the incident report filed with Officer James Opgenorth of the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department, the television had only been in the residence hall for about two weeks. The TV is valued at approximately $1,000. There was no evidence left behind. Several computers located adjacent to the TV were left undisturbed.

Many people questioned why the television was not properly secured to the wall to prevent a theft from occurring, even though the TV was attached to the wall with a flat plastic bracket piece. According to the incident report, the TV was "forcibly removed from its secured wall mount… and the responsible party had damaged the wall mount, however, the wall mount was left behind still attached to the wall."

Other flat screen televisions were put up in various locations on campus, including common areas in South Hall, Muehlmeier Hall and The Pub. After the theft occurred, these other televisions were bolted to their respective walls in an attempt to prevent another incident like this one.

When a theft occurs, most people find themselves asking the question, "What are we doing to make the campus more secure so things like this stop happening?" Jim Bajczyk, director of Residence Life said, "We are thinking about cameras, but it is always a big debate, because that is still somebody's residence." The line between privacy and campus safety sometimes falls into a gray area.

Students sometimes change their behavior after occurrences such as this one. Junior Kelly Conard, a psychology and sociology major, said, "Living in the apartments, I don't worry about it [campus theft] as much, but I do make sure my car doors are always locked."

The incident report indicates that there are no suspects, however, Grosshuesch Hall is secured with an electronic key entry. Officer Opgenorth's report states, "Campus security said they would be checking their electronic key entries to see if there were any suspicious and/or unusual key entries during the suspected time period of the theft."

According to the head of Campus Safety and Security Annette Gamache, "There are no leads [as to] who stole the television." Gamache also stated, "Residence Life has offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever stole the television, and no one has come forward with information that is verifiable."

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