Burglars entered 20 off-campus student residences in downtown College Park during winter break in a crime spree that netted televisions, iPods and other electronics, Prince George’s County Police said.

Police arrested three men and issued a warrant for a fourth in connection with the crimes after District 1 Commander Maj. Kevin Davis assigned more than 20 investigators and officers to the area. All three of the men arrested were caught in the act, Davis said.

Police charged Jordan Xavier Herrera and Younatan Habtu Gobezai, both 18, in connection with four of the burglaries earlier this month. Court records show Gobezai was arrested for robbing someone on a College Park street in September and was out on bond when he was arrested for the burglaries.

Police have not yet arrested a third man who Davis said was working as a team with Herrera and Gobezai.

Police also arrested Omololu Majekodunmi, 20, who Davis identified as a university student and charged him in connection with one of the burglaries.

Since the arrests, Davis said the burglaries have more or less “fallen off the map,” with four of the 20 being reported after the suspects were detained. Many of the burglaries were reported long after they occurred because students were away on break and did not know their homes had been broken into.

Ten of the 20 burglaries occurred on Knox Road, including six at a 12-unit apartment complex at the intersection of Knox and Guilford Roads, Davis said. Four of the burglarized homes were on Guilford Road, two on Hartwick Road, and one each on Norwich Road, Calvert Road, Princeton Avenue and Rhode Island Avenue.

Davis said the arrested men told police during interrogation that they had attended parties at some of the burglarized homes and apartments during the fall semester. That’s when they spotted the electronics.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that winter break starts in mid-December and the off-campus Knox Boxes are going to be vacant for a month,” Davis said.

He added that students need to take precautions when leaving College Park for extended periods of time by locking windows and doors, closing blinds and taking expensive items home.

According to Davis, seven of the burglaries involved forced entry, but the rest of the residences were entered through unlocked windows and doors.

The apartment of juniors Michael Levitan and Neil Swerdlow was among those hit by the burglars, who stole about $800 worth of electronics, including a plasma flat screen television, an Xbox and an iPod.

Swerdlow, a junior economics major, said the burglars must have entered through a window that may have been unlocked, because there was no sign of forced entry and the front door was locked.

“No one would have been here to let them in [the building], so they would have had to come in through the balcony,” Swerdlow said.

Levitan, a junior finance major, is no stranger to College Park crime. Last semester, he and two friends were hit over the head with a crowbar and robbed in the stairwell of their building.

“It just seems unlucky and annoying, but there was nothing we could have done about either situation,” Levitan said.

Levitan’s roommate from last semester, who was one of the robbed students, had about $4,000 worth of items stolen, Levitan said. His former roommate is now studying abroad and was unavailable for comment.

One floor below Levitan and Swerdlow, senior communication major Robyn Reiss had more than $100 worth of gold and silver jewelry stolen from her apartment. She returned from a trip abroad to an e-mail saying her apartment had been broken into.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” Reiss said.

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