{
  "id": "2019-01-27-penn-college-residence-hall-burglaries",
  "slug": "penn-college-residence-hall-burglaries-2019-01-27",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Pennsylvania College of Technology",
    "shortName": "Penn College",
    "state": "PA",
    "type": "technical-college",
    "alertSystemName": "Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2019-01-27",
    "type": "other",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "headline": "Crime alert after thefts from unlocked residence hall rooms",
    "headlinePublic": "Crime alert after thefts from unlocked residence hall rooms",
    "summary": "Penn College Police issued a crime alert after [items were taken from unlocked rooms in Lancaster and Dauphin Halls](https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings) between January 27 and January 28, 2019. The alert described a tailgating entry pattern: two males, believed not to be students, [entered Dauphin Hall behind a student with authorized card access](https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings) and left with items later reported stolen.",
    "outcome": "By January 29, College Police had identified a former student and a local 18 year-old as suspects, arrested both, and recovered some stolen items.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "January 28 or January 29, 2019, before the updated crime alert",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "College Police are investigating several incidents where items were taken from unlocked rooms in Lancaster and Dauphin Halls between Sunday, January 27 and Monday, January 28, 2019. Two males, believed to not be students, were seen entering an elevator in Dauphin Hall on Monday and then leaving the building through another door with some items that were later reported stolen. These males had entered the building behind a student who had authorized access via the student ID card.\n\nCollege Police are trying to identify the two males entering the elevator. If anyone information please contact College Police at 570-321-5555.\n\nAs a safety reminder to all students living in the residence halls you should always lock your doors. Be suspicious of anyone you do not recognize as living in your building or attempting to follow you in after you have gained access to the building or wandering the halls. If you do encounter this type of activity, call College Police immediately.\n\nPolice will be increasing their presence in all of the residence halls across campus.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings",
      "sourceDescription": "Pennsylvania College of Technology Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings archive",
      "annotations": [
        "The sentence 'If anyone information please contact College Police' is preserved exactly as it appears in the official archive.",
        "The alert identifies a residence-hall tailgating failure: suspects entered behind a student who had valid card access.",
        "The safety advice focuses on locking doors and challenging unfamiliar people in residence halls rather than campus-wide sheltering."
      ],
      "characterCount": 1066
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "January 29, 2019",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "On January 29, College Police have identified a former student and a local 18 year-old as suspects in the burglaries of several apartments inside of Rose Street Commons. Police have arrested both individuals and have recovered some of the stolen items.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings",
      "sourceDescription": "Pennsylvania College of Technology Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings archive",
      "annotations": [
        "The update reports both suspect identification and arrests one day after the reported residence-hall theft window.",
        "Rose Street Commons appears in the update, expanding the affected residence-hall geography beyond the initial Lancaster and Dauphin Hall wording.",
        "The phrase '18 year-old' is preserved as displayed in the official alert archive."
      ],
      "characterCount": 252
    }
  ],
  "context": "Pennsylvania College of Technology maintains a public [Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings archive](https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings) for notices distributed by email, the police website, and myPCT. The January 2019 alert described repeated thefts from unlocked residence-hall rooms and a tailgating entry pattern in Dauphin Hall. Penn College is a technical college and Penn State special-mission affiliate whose athletics program began competing as a [full NCAA Division III member](https://www.psu.edu/news/athletics/story/penn-college-celebrate-new-era-wildcat-athletics) in the 2017-18 year; a [2018-19 athletics review](https://www.pct.edu/news/articles/2019/05/19/penn-college-athletics-celebrates-present-builds-future) described that academic year as its second as a full-fledged DIII member. This makes the case a useful contrast to higher-profile violent alerts: a small DIII residential college used its Clery warning channel for a property-crime pattern where access control and student behavior were the core prevention issues.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The alert is fully preserved in Penn College's official public crime-alert archive.",
    "The initial warning highlights a preventable residence-hall access-control failure: suspects followed an authorized student into the building.",
    "The update shows a fast investigative loop, with two arrests and partial property recovery by January 29."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings (Pennsylvania College of Technology)",
      "url": "https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Penn College to celebrate new era for Wildcat Athletics (Penn State University)",
      "url": "https://www.psu.edu/news/athletics/story/penn-college-celebrate-new-era-wildcat-athletics",
      "type": "other"
    },
    {
      "title": "Penn College Athletics celebrates present, builds for future (Pennsylvania College of Technology)",
      "url": "https://www.pct.edu/news/articles/2019/05/19/penn-college-athletics-celebrates-present-builds-future",
      "type": "official-archive"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "burglary",
    "theft",
    "timely-warning",
    "residence-hall",
    "tailgating",
    "access-control",
    "pennsylvania",
    "diii",
    "technical-college"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-15",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-16",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}