Students alerted to property thefts on campus

Of the five thefts reported since Oct. 14 on the Lehigh University Police Department’s crime log, four took place in Fairchild-Martindale Library.

Incidents labeled as “theft” on the log entail “unknown actor(s) unlawfully remov(ing) unattended property belonging to the victim.” The estimated losses of the thefts in FML vary from $30 to $715. All four incidents remain under investigation, according to the log.

In a safety alert email sent to the Lehigh community Tuesday, LUPD chief Edward Shupp reported that over the past few days a number of personal property thefts were reported to the police department.

“In many of these cases, electronic items such as phones and laptops were left unattended in the university libraries and were missing when the students returned,” Shupp wrote.

The issue of theft has had an increased visibility around campus, with signs being posted in the library warning students to watch their belongings. “It only takes a second . . . if you leave it, you lose it,” one sign reads.

Earlier in the semester, a Lehigh student reported the theft of his cell phone from FML by two young girls. While the student was able to get his phone back through GPS tracking, the police involved in the incident said the girls, who were not Lehigh students, had previously been in trouble for similar incidents.