Student-athlete homes were the target of ten burglaries that occurred over a one-month period in the East Asbury Avenue area of South Gilpin and Williams streets, just south of campus. The last break-in was a robbery on Jan. 5.
All of the burglaries remain unsolved, and the athletes said they were told by police not to tell anyone about the incidents, especially the media.
Many of those who were burglarized have since expressed anger at the response of the Denver Police Department and Campus Safety.
“It’s pretty ridiculous that the Denver police respond to noise ordinances due to a college party in less than 15 minutes, but when it comes to robberies and students lives being endangered because of the robberies they seem to not care,” said Payton Sanders, junior men’s soccer player.B
Colin Jones, another men’s soccer player, agrees.
“Campus Safety told us they couldn’t do anything because we lived off campus. The cops arrived probably two-and-a-half hours later, and the cop was polite, but he just wrote a police report and told us we were pretty much screwed,” he said.
Their home is thought to be the first one burglarized, way before the string of December incidents.
It was during their team’s preseason in late August, early September when Jones came home to find his laptop missing as well as other electronics belonging to him and his roommates, including a Playstation, iPods and iPod players.
Electronics have been the target of all the robberies, with laptops, iPods, cameras and televisions stolen.
A women’s lacrosse player, who asked that her name not be used, said multiple laptops, iPods, flat screen televisions, an Xbox, a camera and cash were stolen on Thanksgiving from a house she shares with four other athletes.
She said a roommate came home from vacation to find their back door unlocked and all the doors to their rooms kicked in, all of which had been locked.
“We always locked our doors and windows, including the doors to our rooms.B They kicked them in. They knew what they wanted. They knew our schedules,” she said.
Because the suspect(s) has yet to be caught, she said the roommates have added some extra security to their house.
“We now have set up a security system with an alarm that contacts the police immediately. We also are more aware and ask others to be more aware of suspicious activity in the neighborhood,” she said.
Jones’ housemates have undertaken the same precautions.
“We had our locks replaced. We all have locks on our doors to our rooms,” he said. “I personally hide all my valuables every time I leave the house.”
One skier, who asked that her name not be used, said the Denver police detective she spoke with said talking to the media “makes their job more difficult.”
Her house was burglarized on Thanksgiving and robbed on Jan. 5.
During the second incident, the suspect actually spoke to one of the roommates.
“He told her he would kill her if she warned anyone or screamed,” the skier said.
She said police responded quickly to both incidents. Campus Safety was only involved in the second incident.
That event sparked community awareness of the burglaries.
“Campus Safety, the University of Denver and the Denver Police let the situation continue throughout the year, and it took a life-or-death situation to finally get some attention,” Jones said.B
Major media outlets such as 9News and Fox did not report the story until Jan. 5 or later.
Campus Safety did not alert the campus community until Jan. 8.
That’s because they weren’t aware of the incidents until shortly before then, said Tyrone Mills, associate director of Campus Safety.
“We didn’t find out [until] probably a lot of other students found out, until the point where there was a rash of them,” he said.
“Once it was brought to our attention the number of these that were happening, that’s when we put out a notice to the campus community, especially to those who live in that community.”
According to Mills, Campus Safety does not receive reports on off-campus incidents. They only find out about them when a police liaison officer from the local precinct contacts the office with information.
The Denver Police Department was unavailable for comment.
Anyone with information regarding these robberies is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at (720) 913-7867. A $2,000 reward is being offered. Information can also be left on the DU anonymous tip-line at (303) 871-3130.
