Two were arrested last Wednesday, Feb. 24 after a car was stolen from the parking lot of the Athletic center on campus the day before. The two males, ages 15 and 19, have no connection to Le Moyne and were apprehended after the stolen car was recovered a few blocks away on Delray Ave., according to campus security.

The crime occurred around 1:25 p.m. on Tuesday, when the individuals responsible entered the recreation center and proceeded to find a set of keys in an unlocked locker in the Men’s locker room.

“Today most cars have buttons that you press and it will tell you where the car is at and they can go in it and drive off,” said Director of Campus Security Mark Petterelli. “The car was recovered the following day by the Syracuse police.”

This occurrence follows an incident of theft that happened just a couple weeks ago in the parking lot of the heights, not far from the athletic center. In that instance, two unidentified males were seen looking through unlocked cars in the parking lot, which resulted in theft from two vehicles. However, Petterelli expressed that he believes it was not the same perpetrators.

“It’s kinda different, I shouldn’t say it never occurs if they’re just looking for loose change and valuables from cars, but I would say that it’s probably not related,” Petterelli said. “What does come to mind is that we’ve had several incidents this academic year starting back in September down in the athletic complex, all of which go to not properly protecting our property.”

The campus alert email sent to students on Thursday Feb. 25, described the theft as a crime of opportunity, and encouraged students and faculty to take precautions when leaving their belongings unattended or in cars and offices.

Up until last week, students, staff and faculty could easily walk into the recreation center, usually without being stopped, and were allowed to bring in guests as well. After discussing ways to better protect the campus community last week, the staff at the athletic department and security decided to temporarily suspend the guest policy in the building, and now require campus identification to be shown at the door before entering.

As for further actions, Petterelli says that he hopes to educate the campus community on these incidents when they do happen so that students and faculty can be more aware and observant.

“We pride ourselves so much on Le Moyne being an open campus, and people being able to come in and see the beauty of it and partake in what we have to offer here,” said Petterelli. “But at some point we have to do some checks and balances, so I think that is where we are at. We don’t want to lock the campus down and not let people enjoy what we have to offer here.”