Tip of the week: Over the last three years, several students, mostly female students, have been receiving calls from a suspicious male individual. He calls at night, asks what they are doing, how they are dressed and if they will participate in an experiment, a study for his psychology class. He asks them to lie down on the floor then asks a series of questions and tells them to relax. An investigator from the police department has talked to a professor on campus, who is an expert in hypnotism. He says it is not possible to hypnotize someone over the phone. Some students have fallen asleep, woken up and weren't sure what happened but whether they were really hypnotized or not is questionable.

If you receive a suspicious call, get the number off the caller ID and report it to the police immediately. If you have the ability to transfer calls from your phone, transfer the call to 422-2222 (or 2-2222 from on-campus phones). Don't stay on the line any longer than is necessary to determine if it is an obscene or suspicious call. Keep a log and report all suspicious calls to the police as soon as possible.

Animal problem

Oct. 5: A deer was reported stuck in the fence at the student health center. By the time the officers got there, the deer had extricated itself and was gone.

Burglary

Oct. 5-7: A female resident of Wymount Terrace called to report that she had recovered property that had been taken from her minivan several days earlier. Someone had called the police department and reported that the missing property was under the front bumper of her van. There is no indication of who took it or how it got under her van. The police suspect someone took it, then had second thoughts, so they placed it under the vehicle and reported it.

Communications violation

Oct. 2: An independent study student threatened to disrupt the IT system with constant e-mails and phone calls because he was unhappy about a grade he had received. Several e-mails were exchanged between the student and the department. The students grade was raised half a point but he is still unhappy about his grade.

Criminal mischief

Oct. 6-7: The Chicago Bears slogan was painted on the window of a 2006 Honda Civic in the parking lot south of the Knight Mangum Building. Relish was also dumped on the car. It is unknown if the car was damaged as a result of this vandalism.

Disorderly conduct

Oct. 7: A witness heard an explosion outside F. Smith Hall in Heritage Halls. When she went out to see what it was, she saw two males standing near a small bottle on the ground. The device was similar to a dry ice bomb, but the ingredients were different. The offenders have been identified as two students living in Snow Hall. They were charged with misdemeanor violations of disorderly conduct.

Harassment

Oct. 4: Two teenage girls were reported speeding around the northeast parking lot at Wymount Terrace. They were harassing pedestrians, screaming at them, calling them names, and at one point, nearly hitting somebody. The officer met with the two females in the car. Their excuse for their behavior was that a pedestrian was careless. They claimed he walked out in front of them without paying attention and they almost hit him. There was some disrespectful verbal commentary between the pedestrian and the car occupants.

Hazmat

Oct. 3: A pallet of five-gallon bottles containing hydraulic fluid was being unloaded from a semi-truck in the parking lot west of the RB when one of the bottles fell and broke. The spill was contained in a 15-by-15 foot area until grounds responded. The fluid was cleaned up before it got into the drainage system.

Property damage

Oct. 3: A female individual was sitting in her parked car in the parking lot east of the HFAC when someone parked next to her. The female occupant of that vehicle hit the victim's car with her door, as she got out of the vehicle. Words were exchanged and the victim got a license plate number of the other car. The police have not yet been able to talk to the suspect. Her contact information is not valid, but they think she might be a part-time employee on campus.

Oct. 3: A sign reportedly fell on a vehicle in the visitor parking lot east of the Wilkinson Center. There was no apparent damage to the vehicle.

Stalking

Oct. 4: A female student living in Taylor Hall in Helaman Halls, reported being stalked by a male individual she had met on an LDS singles Web site. She had communicated with him via e-mail, phone calls and text messaging, and he wanted to meet her. She finally consented and they met in Helaman Halls and went on a short walk together. After this meeting, she contacted him by phone and told him she did not want to have any more contact with him because she was dating somebody else. He did not want to terminate the relationship and continued to text message her. He was contacted by the police department and told to stop contacting her. As of Oct. 8, she has not had any contact with him.

Oct. 5: A female student reported that her former boyfriend was stalking her. On one particular day, he called her 26 times. She was given some safety tips and a copy of the police department's no contact letter. The police will be working the case and more than likely giving him a letter telling him to leave her alone.

Suspicious event/situation/incident

Oct. 2: Two female students were walking home to Helaman Halls, returning from a dance class in the RB, when they encountered a man, who engaged them in conversation. The students were uncomfortable and thought his intentions were not all they should be. He touched them, but not in an inappropriate place. After talking to their mothers, the students decided to report the incident to the police.

Oct. 2: A suspicious white male was reported in the men's locker room in the RB. The complainant said it appeared as though the individual was there to watch men in the dressing room. The suspect was described as a heavy-set white male, approximately 60-years-old and 6-feet tall.

Oct. 4: A BYU employee was driving down the hill near the Tanner Building, when his vehicle was hit by a water balloon. He thought the balloon came from the direction of the Tanner Building or Helaman Halls. There are no suspects.

Oct. 5: A female occupant of Wyview Park was asleep in her apartment when someone threw a cat through her partially open window. A man outside the window was communicating with her, trying to talk her into letting him come into the apartment, but she refused. The police think he threw the cat through the window so she would let him in. The suspect has not been identified.

Oct. 6: Three female students were reported for suspicious activity outside Felt Hall in Heritage Halls. When police arrived, they discovered the suspects were shooting each other with squirt guns. They were interviewed and let go.

Theft

Sept. 30-Oct. 1: A female student's BYU ID card was used to purchase items in the vending machines in Chipman Hall in Helaman Halls. The victim was reimbursed for the fraudulent charges and got a new card.

Oct. 3: A laptop computer was reported stolen from the Cannon Center. The student left his backpack outside the cafeteria while he was eating. When he came back, the laptop had been removed. It was an Apple Macbook.

Oct. 5: A male student reported his backpack stolen from the back seat of the paint car used to paint lines on the football field. The student works for the physical plant motor pool and had left his backpack behind the seat of the paint car and left it for 90 minutes. When he came back, the backpack was gone. He called the police department on Oct. 9 and reported that he had recovered his property. Someone had found the backpack, called him and brought it to him. Everything was accounted for.

Oct. 5: Two cardboard star figures were stolen from a promotional booth set up at the bookstore. One was Han Solo, the other was Princess Leia.

Oct. 5-15: Three Hollywood bases were taken from the Miller Park playing field. The white 15-by-15-by-3 inch bases are valued at $200.

Oct. 7: A laptop computer was reported stolen from Young Hall in Heritage Halls. The laptop was taken while the student was attending general conference, more than likely during the priesthood session.

Oct 7: The police received a call reporting a suspicious person driving around Wymount Terrace with the lights out. Officers responded and found the driver of the vehicle, a 29-year-old man, crouched between a couple of parked cars. Through an investigation, they found that he had a lot of stolen items inside his vehicle, and some were traced back to thefts that occurred on campus. He was arrested and taken to jail. The suspect is not a student.

Threatening

Oct. 3: A male student received a text message on his cell phone indicating that he would die within 9 hours and 16 minutes.

Traffic stop violation

Oct. 7: An officer witnessed two vehicles racing southbound on North University Avenue. He was able to stop one of the drivers, who did not have his driver's license or vehicle registration. The individual claimed he had purchased the car a few days before. He was cited for improper registration and no driver's license and has a court date for Nov. 5.

Copyright Brigham Young University 12 Oct 2007