7 McCarthy Residents Robbed
The McCarthy Hall residences of seven students were reportedly robbed early Saturday evening. Thieves entered through unlocked doors and stole a number of possessions, including residents’ laptops, cell phones, an iPod, shoes and sunglasses, according to Department of Public Safety Associate Director Joseph Smith.
Third-floor chaplain-in-residence Michael Dante said he and his wife were following their yearly tradition of distributing candy to residents early on the evening of Halloween when they saw students talking to DPS officers. More DPS officers arrived on the scene later that evening, Dante added.
McCarthy Hall resident Elizabeth Johnston (COL ’12) said two youths opened her unlocked room Saturday evening.
“I was in my room and my door was closed but unlocked. Two kids holding black bags opened my door, mumbled ‘trick or treat,’ then immediately left.”
There is an ongoing investigation of the incident in which the Metropolitan Police Department is taking a leading role, according to Smith.
No Public Safety Alert had been posted on the DPS Web site or sent to the university community at press time. At least one resident assistant in McCarthy Hall, however, sent e-mails to their residents warning them about the thefts, McCarthy Hall faculty-in-residence Marilyn McMorrow said.
“It’s not surprising that [this incident] might happen on Halloween,” McMorrow said. She said there appeared to be additional security personnel in the building even before the thefts took place.
“It’s disheartening to see a criminal element on an evening when people just want to have fun,” Dante said.
Nov 04 2009 at 12:31 a.m.
Yikes....no suspects?
Nov 04 2009 at 10:50 a.m.
"robbed" or "burglarized?"
Nov 05 2009 at 2:49 p.m.
Yet again, The Hoya shows it is a junior member of journalism through poor research. Why can't you do your research before writing articles that sound like a high school newspaper?
The proper term for what you describe in your news article is BURGLARY. In the District of Columbia, when someone enter's a building with the intent to commit a crime, they have committed the offense of BURGLARY ... not ROBBERY!
The Hoya really needs to go down to Foggy Bottom and take some journalism lessons from The Hatchet.
Nov 05 2009 at 7:32 p.m.
Several people have already made my point, but I'd like to reiterate that there is a difference between robbery, burglary and larceny. I don't blame the Hoya too much for this because I didn't know the distinction until my first year of law school, but its helpful to use the right terms.
While it seems proper to call these acts burglary, it could more safely be called larceny (the felonious taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with purpose to permanently deprive the owner of possession.
At any rate, its not robbery and the Hoya could save itself the trouble of these legal distinctions and use more general words like theft.
By the way, Robbery is "The taking of money or goods in the possession of another, from his or her person or immediate presence, by force or intimidation."
Nov 06 2009 at 2:03 a.m.
Regardless of what you want to call it, 7 Georgetown students were "robbed" in the heart of campus. That means that two people entered into the building, somehow getting past the guard, and went floor by floor stealing things. Whether they were Georgetown students or outside of our community is irrelevant to the fact that these crimes are so deeply disturbing. How did they get in the building in the first place! And how did they continue to steal things floor by floor while DPS was in the building "investigating" the crime? It's also really outrageous that the university community at large has yet to hear about this. What is going on at Georgetown?