Crime over the weekend was relatively low, despite spring-like weather, which often raises the number of campus-area thefts.
University of Minnesota police responded to two different trespassing reports — one in Fraser Hall and one in Coffman Union on Saturday, according to UMPD incident reports. There were also a few thefts.
According to the reports, both of the individuals who were cited for trespassing had been cited for the same crime in the past, so their citations were updated.
Theft from Coffman
A graduate student’s backpack was stolen from Coffman Union on Friday, according to a University incident report.
Educational psychology graduate student Rob Henery said he was attending an event on the 4th floor of Coffman and left his backpack at a coat-check area.
Henery’s backpack was stolen while he was away from it, University police Deputy Chief Chuck Miner said.
Henery said an iPad, laptop and hard drive were inside his backpack.
“I just lost so, so, so much,” Henery said. Miner said there aren’t any security cameras in that area of Coffman to record the theft.
Theft from vehicle in Dinkytown
A particularly bold individual stole shampoo, a laptop and several other items from a parked car in Dinkytown on Sunday afternoon.
Iowa State University students Frances Clemente and Courtney Jones were walking to Tony’s Diner when a man approached them to ask if they were going to a Gophers game.
Clemente and Jones said the man had suspicious behavior and was saying “weird things.”
After the two students went to Tony’s, they returned to their car, which they had parked behind Mesa Pizza, to find its front passenger window smashed.
Jones said her backpack in the front seat and her overnight bag in the back seat were stolen.
A University student who was with them asked businesses in the area if they had caught the thief on camera, Clemente said.
Jones said Mesa’s cameras had footage that showed the man they previously encountered breaking into the car.
After the theft, Jones said she received an email from a woman who was near the incident. The email said someone had left Jones’ backpack and bag on the woman’s porch.
Jones said her contact information was on some of the items in the stolen backpack.
When the students went to get the bags from the woman, they found that a laptop and headphones, along with shampoo and ChapStick, were missing.