Coming home from a friend’s birthday party early Saturday morning, nutritional science senior Grant Lemay found his car gone from the house’s driveway and valuables missing from his room.

Lemay’s two computers, video games, tablet, school supplies and headphones were taken from his room, he said, and his prescription glasses and golf clubs, worth more than $1,000, were also in his car when it was stolen.

“I had a bunch of stuff in my car. I didn’t even realize, but I use that stuff every day,” Lemay said.

The first-floor window of his house, which is on Seventh Street Southeast, was forced open, he said, though he added it was high enough to make entering it a challenge.

Lights behind the house were on and Lemay’s roommates were home when the burglary took place, he said.

“It would have been really hard to take anything,” Lemay said.

Lemay said he had left his car keys on his desk while he was out. He said his car was crashed, then impounded by the Minneapolis Police Department, though he said he doesn’t know where it was wrecked or how damaged it is.

“Basically I don’t own anything anymore,” he said.

Group surrounds U student, takes phone

Samuel Sloan said he realized he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was surrounded late at night by six strangers as he walked home just outside Dinkytown on July 20.

At about 2 a.m., two men approached the finance senior and started talking to him, according to a police report. Four more men were waiting at the intersection of University and 12th avenues Southeast, and they joined Sloan and the two others.

One of them asked to use his phone, but Sloan told him the phone was dead and continued walking, the report said. The same man put his arm around Sloan and whispered, “Let me have your phone,” according to the report.

Sloan then handed over his phone, he said, before the group of men left, some in a car.

“I know I wasn’t being smart,” Sloan said. “I just want to put it behind me.”

University police Deputy Chief Chuck Miner said it’s not uncommon for people to manipulate others into believing they need to use their phone for an emergency.

“Sometimes people will want to be good Samaritans and might think it’s a legitimate problem,” he said.

Not walking home alone, Miner said, is one of the best ways to prevent thefts. But when put in a situation like Sloan’s, Miner suggested that people offer to call the police instead of giving their phones to a stranger.

“Value your personal safety over your property’s safety,” he said.

Student’s home burglarized

Applied kinesiology student Jesse Stein said he returned home from work Thursday morning to find his laptop and wallet missing.

Stein said he forgot to lock his apartment’s door between 5 and 7 a.m. that day, and he said he found no signs of forced entry when he got back.

He said he was surprised that someone was able to steal his things, because his friend had been sleeping on the living room couch during that time.

There wasn’t much money in his wallet, Stein said, and no charges had appeared on his debit or credit cards.

“There were a couple gift cards,” Stein said. “It’s hard to track where gift cards are used, though.”