By John Brown
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 15, 1997

Police Beat

University police arrested a Tucson man and U.S. Border Patrol took custody of two boys Friday after officers spotted them with bolt cutters snooping around the bike racks near East University Boulevard and North Campus Drive.

Gustavo R. Ramo, 35, address unknown, was booked into Pima County Jail on two outstanding warrants in connection with an alcohol violation and later released.

A security officer reported seeing the three wander through the racks several times about 12:30 a.m., prompting police to stop them near Campus Drive and North Mountain Avenue soon after.

Ramo and the 16-year-old boy stopped while the 17-year-old boy continued to walk away, but the officer noticed he had bolt cutters under his shirt, reports stated.

According to police reports, when the boy refused to comply to the officer's commands to stop in English and Spanish, he directed him toward the patrol car and then the youth shoved him in the chest.

The officer then handcuffed the boy, told the other two to get on the ground and called for backup, reports stated.

Other officers arrived and one of them translated the conversation with the youth.

The boy told police he had the bolt cutters for "landscaping" and he had no intention of stealing bikes.

The boys were unable to provide identification or a Tucson address prompting officers to call Border Patrol who took them away.

Ramo was detained after the discovery of his warrants for his arrest.

A thief took one $7,000 computer from an office and left several others over the weekend at McClelland Hall, 1130 E. Helen St.

An employee told university police the Micron 266 Pentium computer was taken from a secured office between Friday afternoon and Monday morning. There was no sign of forced entry, police reports stated.

She told police several people have keys to the office, including carpet cleaners who have accidentally left the door unlocked in the past.

According to reports, the office has several more computers, all of which remained intact.

A 15-year-old Phoenix boy was ditched by his "friends" after the UA football game Saturday for the second time in two weeks. He got home after officers chipped in and bought him a bus ticket.

University police found the boy broke and friendless at East Sixth Street and North Cherry Avenue at 9:53 p.m.

He told police the group he came with from Phoenix had left him behind and they had done the same thing during last week's game.

The youth told police he couldn't remember his mother's phone number or apartment complex and only knew the intersection where she lives in Phoenix.

According to reports, the Phoenix Police Department wouldn't be able to attempt to contact his mother for at least two hours and Child Protective Services refused to help.

Officers chipped in and bought the boy a $12 Greyhound bus fare and gave him $6 for a cab ride to his house.

An officer waited to make sure he got on the right bus and UAPD requested Phoenix police to meet him at the station when he arrived.

A UAPD dispatcher was bitten by a brown ferret that was dropped off by a woman who found it on campus Monday afternoon.

According to reports, the woman found the ferret by Bear Down Gymnasium, 1428 E. University Blvd., and brought it to UAPD headquarters at 5:40 p.m.

The woman told police she couldn't care for the animal because she had a small child.

According to reports, the animal was placed in a cardboard box in the dispatch office until Pima County Animal Control arrived to pick it up.

One of the dispatchers then decided to hold the ferret when it bit her on the middle finger of her right hand, reports stated.

She immediately put the animal back in the box.

Animal control came and got the animal and the dispatcher went to University Medical Center for a tetanus shot and antibiotics.

Police Beat is compiled from official University of Arizona Police Department reports.