A rash of laptop thefts hit Georgetown’s campus this week. One laptop was stolen last Thursday, three laptops were stolen on Sunday and another was stolen on Tuesday, according to the Department of Public Safety.
On Thursday, Oct. 21, a student’s laptop was stolen via an unlocked patio door to a Village A apartment while the student and his roommates were sleeping, according to a Public Safety Alert sent Thursday. Two unattended laptops in Lauinger Library were taken from cubicles on Sunday, according to DPS Associate Director Joseph Smith. A laptop was also stolen from Village A apartment E202 on Tuesday after the apartment was left unlocked. Allegedly, the apartment was broken into around 6 p.m.
Clare Carluccio’s (COL ’13) laptop was one of two taken from the library on Sunday. After leaving her computer unattended from around 5:30 until 6 p.m., Carluccio returned to an empty cubicle.
“I’m just very trusting, and I never thought anything would be taken. I leave stuff all the time but not anymore,” she said.
The thefts are not random occurrences at Georgetown, according to Smith.
“Quite often, students and employees will have left their laptops unattended and when they return, find it missing,” he said. “A student will have a study area, and they don’t want to lose that study area.”
Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Cook, who reported to the burglary on Tuesday, said he and his colleagues had been called to campus an inordinate amount of times this week for laptop thefts.
“People aren’t locking their doors, and they’re paying for it,” Cook said.
Smith offered guidance to students after the thefts in Lauinger. “It only takes a second for someone to pick it up and put into their own backpacks and it’s immediately concealed . I appreciate that there’s sometimes a lot of competition for study space, but you don’t want to lose an expensive laptop,\” he said.
As Cook was leaving the scene Tuesday night, he left Georgetown students with a piece of advice: “Look out for the guy carrying 17 Macbooks,” he told The Hoya.
