Police Beat
Joseph Altman Jr.
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 25, 1996
Police Beat
Joseph Altman Jr.
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 25, 1996
Two men were arrested near Alpha Delta Pi sorority early Tuesday morning after police saw them cutting bike locks and discovered stolen property in a backpack near the sorority house.Benjamin J. Michaelson, 20, was arrested on charges of theft under $250 and second-degree burglary, and Michael S. Lynch Jr., 19, was arrested on charges of theft under $250 and conspiracy to commit theft. The men are roommates at an apartment in the 500 block of East Glenn Road.
Police responded to the house at 1443 E. First St. at 2:30 a.m. after a resident of the sorority called and reported two men attempting to steal a bicycle.
A community service officer arrived and kept Michaelson and Lynch under surveillance as they crouched between bicycles parked near the house. The CSO then saw one of the men remove a pair of cutters from a black backpack and snap a lock, police reports stated.
When a university police officer arrived, the two men denied that the backpack belonged to them. Officers searched the bag and found various items, including a Koss compact disc player, sunglasses, a calculator, a credit card, a Phi Delta Theta flag, a U.S. flag and two water bottles. A screwdriver and a pair of shears were also in the bag, reports stated.
While police were investigating, a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity, next door to Alpha Delta Pi, arrived and said a water bottle was missing from his bicycle. Police determined one of the bottles in the backpack belonged to the Kappa Sigma member.
Lynch later admitted that the backpack was his and was placed under arrest. A member of Phi Delta Theta was contacted by police and confirmed the two flags found in the backpack had been stolen from a closet in the fraternity house.
Michaelson told police he and Lynch stole the flags as a "fraternity prank," but the two do not belong to any fraternity. The two men were taken to Pima County Jail where they were booked.
Police responded to a large swarm of bees near UA Purchasing and Stores, 603 N. Highland Ave., Tuesday at 5:22 p.m.
When officers arrived, they found "numerous bee swarms" around a tree on the northeast side of the building. An exterminator arrived, sprayed the bees with a chemical, and collected them. A trap was left overnight as well, because some bees were still swarming after they had been sprayed.
It is estimated that 1,500 bees were in the swarm, according to police reports.
Police were called to the Student Recreation Center, 1400 E. Sixth St., Monday, after two students got into a verbal altercation regarding a Stairmaster.
Officers arrived at 5:39 p.m. and met with a 30-year-old student, who said she saw an unoccupied Stairmaster with a book on it. She did not see anyone nearby and began using the machine.
Five minutes later, another student, 20, approached and asked the 30-year-old to get off the Stairmaster. The woman refused.
The 30-year-old said the younger woman then called her an "old, ugly bitch." The 20-year-old then returned with a group of friends who said, "We're going to take this woman down," according to the 30-year-old.
The 20-year-old, however, said the older woman had called her a "bitch" and said she was "going to take (the younger woman) down."
Due to the conflicting stories, police referred the woman to Rec Center staff to help them settle their differences.
A student reported his room at Beta Theta Pi fraternity, 645 E. University Blvd., was burglarized Sunday night. Between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., someone took almost 100 compact discs, a cellular phone, wristwatch, shoes, a jacket and other items with a total value of $2,685 from the first-floor room.
Two computer thefts were reported to police Tuesday.
An employee in Pharmacy/Microbiology, 1117 E. Lowell Drive, reported the theft of one Digital and one Gateway 2000 microcomputer from a room there. The computers were taken sometime between 7:30 p.m. Monday and 8:10 a.m. Tuesday. An older-model computer in the same office was left untouched.
A ground-level window in the office was open when police arrived. The computers are valued at $5,557.04.
In a separate incident, an IBM 350 Thinkpad laptop computer was stolen from a KUAT-TV office in the Modern Languages building, 1423 E. University Blvd.
The computer was stolen sometime between noon and 6 p.m. March 17, but it was not reported to police until Tuesday while employees tried to determine that the computer was not just being used by an employee.
The laptop is valued at $2,343.
Police Beat is compiled from official University of Arizona Police Department reports.If you enjoy Police Beat, then check out "Police Have No Suspects" on sale now!
