Broken lock grants intruder access to showers

By MELISSA WALKER

Sophomore Kenyon Newman headed out of her Dunne Residence Hall room to take a shower on Feb. 16 - like any ordinary day. As she walked outside her door, she saw an unfamiliar male walking down the third floor girl's hall.

"On the way to the shower, he was walking in front of me," Newman said.

Newman didn't think much of it. She went into the vacant shower room, undressed and stepped into the shower.

"I was showering and I smelled cigarette drenched clothes, and I thought, 'what is that smell?'" Newman said.

Newman finished her shower quickly and was preparing to get out when she realized she wasn't alone."I reached around to get my towel and this guy was walking out, just rounding the tile barrier to go out of the door," Newman said. " He looked back at me and I made eye contact with him, and it was the same guy I had just seen [in the hall]."

Newman immediately told her Resident Assistant Debbie Zabala about the incident.

"I gave a detailed description [of the man] from two residents to the resident director and I filled out a maintenance request for the lock to be fixed ASAP, " Zabala said.

Until the incidents, Zabala was unaware of the fact that the lock wasn't working properly and residents were able to push the door open without a key. The door is now fixed.

On President's Day weekend, just a few days after Newman's encounter, another shower room incident occurred - this time on the fifth floor.

Sophomore Melanie Lundin returned from a run on Feb. 21 to shower in Dunne.. It was approximately 1:45 p.m. when Lundin entered the shower and heard someone enter the room.

"There was no one in the showers when I went in there, but right after I turned on the shower I heard the door open and somebody came in," Lundin said.

Lundin just thought someone else was going to take a shower.

"I heard [the person] walk across to the last stall next to me," Lundin said. "Then I thought it was weird because he didn't shut the curtains, he didn't turn on the water - he were just in there."Lundin finished her shower within a few minutes.

"The second I turned off the water somebody darted out of the stall, out of the doors and down the hall, " Lundin said. "I saw the person, but I didn't see who it was."

Lundin didn't report the incident immediately because although she had a suspicious feeling, she hadn't actually seen his face. At the time, Lundin was unaware of Newman's incident with the alleged peeper.The events that took place over the next hour prompted Lundin to call Public Safety.

Lundin went to eat at Benson Memorial Center after her shower. She was walking up the stairs on her way back when she had another run-in with a mysterious person.

"I was just about to get to the landing for second and third floor [of Dunne] and I hear somebody take off ahead of me," Lundin said. "So I look up the stairwell because why would somebody full out run, and this guy peeks over the edge and makes eye contact with me, and then takes off."

Lundin went back down to the second floor and took the elevator upstairs. She immediately told her Resident Assistant. Lundin called Public Safety at 2:45 p.m. when a conversation with a floor mate made her realize that her own incident wasn't the only suspicious event that had occurred that afternoon.

At approximately 2:15 p.m. the same day, sophomore Katie Petzold had a run-in with a suspicious male.

Petzold lives at the end of fifth floor Dunne. Right outside her door is a glass door that leads to a small stoop and another door that leads to the stairwell.

"I always check what it's like outside and since the [stairwell] door was propped, I saw him stick his head out and duck back," Petzold said. "He looked suspicious for sure."

The suspicious male was still there after a few minutes and Petzold decided to make a bold move."I opened the door and said, 'Excuse me, can you tell me what you are doing here?'" Petzold said. "He goes, 'uh, I'm just waiting for somebody.'"

Lundin and Petzold compiled their stories and called Public Safety. They each recount similar descriptions of the male and Newman's description matches as well. The three girls remember him having a dark complexion, dark hair and wearing a backpack.

Public Safety responded to Lundin and Petzold's call at 2:42 p.m., according to Watch Commander Raymond Yee. Once at Dunne, Yee and Officer Baird Tarr conducted a search for the alleged peeper."We checked the whole building but found no suspicious person," Yee said.

Similar to third floor Dunne, fifth floor Dunne also had a faulty lock on the shower room door. A Public Safety locksmith repaired the lock on Feb. 23, according to Yee.

The recent incidents have once again sparked safety awareness in resident halls, and responsibility is important on the part of the residents, according to Dunne Resident Director Romando Nash.

"Residents in general should simply do the basics of what we ask - key being do not let people into the building that do not live here," Nash said. "Never prop any of the building doors open - this goes for both the exterior doors as well as for any interior doors that are meant to be keep shut at all times - and always report any suspicious activity or individuals to either your Resident Assistant or to the Resident Director of the building."

No suspicious person has been apprehended at this time, so students should be aware.

"My entire floor now checks the stalls before we use the showers," Lundin said. " I have always felt safe on the Santa Clara campus, but we can never be too cautious. "