Laundry-lifting a bad idea
Resident caught in the act
By Sara Brauer
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University Housing really comes down hard on this felony.
When Kelly* decided that she liked a pair of sweatpants that were tumbling in the dryer beside her heap of dirty clothes, she had no idea that there were nearby cameras that could catch her in the act of swiping secondhand clothing.
After quickly pilfering someone else’s laundry, Kelly escaped the North Tower laundry facility and took her new belongings up to her room.
With a dryer sheet still stuck to the Victoria’s Secret sweatpants in question, she ran away with her prize, thinking she had completely gotten away with the petty crime.
Much to her surprise, an hour later a police officer showed up at her door asking for the pants. He carried with him a picture of her obtaining the pink sweatpants the cameras had caught her with.
The owner of the pants filed a complaint, and the sweatpants criminal was caught. For stealing the sweatpants Kelly was given a ticket for $289, and now the offense of theft is on her criminal record for life.
I don’t know about any of you, but I never knew that stealing an item from another person’s laundry was taken so seriously. True, it would suck to have your belongings stolen, but University Housing really comes down hard.
Kelly was issued the large ticket as well as fingerprinted, given mug shots and counseled by the officer. She is now legally considered a thief. The moral of the story: Don’t screw with anybody’s laundry.
*Name changed for protection.
> Comments
Rose Wasielewski on Nov 14, 2007 at 12:30 PM:
I'm very disheartened by the approach taken with this "article". I have worked with University Housing in many positions over my entire career as a student and found that your article was not only misleading, but also showed a lacking sense of common decency that seems to be permeating our society.
Not only does the article make it sound as if stealing wasn't a huge deal ("I never knew that stealing an item from another person’s laundry was taken so seriously.") but the article also makes the assumption that it was University Housing that "really [came] down hard" on this theif. First of all, the ticket was issued by a Police officer, not University Housing officials. Even so, University Housing takes theft very seriously, as they should!
Perhaps the woman who was caught stealing didn't think she would get caught (although University Housing safety cameras are easily visible throughout the buildings). Or perhaps she was caught up in the moment of doing something "wrong".
Either way, she obviously knew what she was doing, and for that I believe the actions taken against her were nothing but just, especially when you think about the woman who owned the article of clothing that was stolen. Would you be arguing about the harshness of punishment if the woman had stolen a stereo or a piece of jewelery?
Perhaps the sweatpants stolen weren't of much value, monetary or otherwise, but that doesn't make the thief any less punishable.