Forty minutes. That is how long it allegedly took two suspects to break into 15 vehicles on three Saint Louis University parking lots on Wednesday, Feb. 2.
According to Assistant Director of the Department of Public Safety and Security Services Kenneth Hornak, at 5:38 a.m. a DPSSS unit pulled into the Seattle Parking Lot on the corner of Vandeventer and West Pine and observed the suspects duck out of sight. The officers got out of their vehicle to engage the suspects when they fled north toward Lindell Blvd.
As the officers put in a description of the suspects over the DPSSS radio, they noticed an empty, running vehicle on the lot.
The officers were able to recover the vehicle for evidence and they called the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to investigate further.
“I am really proud of the DPSSS officers because if the officers did not spot them when they did, the suspects could have hit 15 more cars,” Hornak said.
No suspects have been taken into custody, but investigators are “working some very strong leads in the case,” according to the SLMPD. Officers recovered the ids of both suspects in their vehicle, and a warrant has been issued for their arrest. Detectives with the SLMPD believe that these suspects may be responsible for multiple car break-ins in other parts of the city.
Commander of the Ninth District Michael Caruso credited the DPSSS officers for assisting in finding evidence that lead back to this “two man wrecking crew.”
On campus, the two suspects broke into three vehicles in the Salus Center Lot, four in the St. Peters Lot behind Marchetti and eight in the Seattle Lot.
In the suspects’ recovered vehicle, the officers found the stolen items from the vehicles in the three SLU lots, totaling over $1,000, according to the SLMPD.
Sophomore Kathleen Allen had her GPS stolen from her Nissan Pathfinder, which was parked in the Seattle Lot, and was informed by DPSSS of the robbery the afternoon of Feb. 2. Allen’s passenger window was smashed in and the suspects took her GPS from under her seat and attempted to steal her stereo system.
On Feb. 3 SLMPD officers returned Allen’s GPS and 10 other items that they found in the suspects’ car to the vehicle owners. These items included iPods, GPS units, stereo systems and a radar detector.
“I think it is the luck of the draw that they found something valuable in my car, as I hid my items from sight,” Allen said. “I think it is kind of crazy that those guys hit that many cars and I don’t really feel that my car is safe in the SLU lots especially with the gates not being down.”
According to Director of Parking and Card Services Ann Gioia, the gates at the SLU lots were raised because of the thawing and freezing at the entrances and exit ways due to the recent inclement weather.
“As snow and ice thaw, the water is washing out of the lots at these spots and refreezing, if we put the gates up during these conditions then we could have cars running into the bars,” Gioia said. “I have been here for 17 years and we have always raised the gates and I don’t think this is the cause of the break-ins.”
Hornak believes the raised gates did cause an opportunity for the suspects, as they had an easy way to escape the lots with their vehicle. He said if the gates were down, the opportunity would have been limited.
However, this incident is not the first time some students experienced the affects of a car break-in. Sarah Morales, a senior in the School of Nursing, said her vehicle, which she parks on the Seattle lot, was also broken into in November. She said DPSSS ought to do more to monitor parking lots, as “two, or potentially more, car break-ins are not in every student’s budget.”
According to DPSSS, officers continuously monitor parking lots for punched door locks, broken windows, suspicious characters and cars backed up into spaces with engines running.
DPSSS encourages students to secure all of their items within their vehicle and to keep them out of site, thus limiting criminal opportunity.
