Police arrested an Upper Marlboro man yesterday morning after he allegedly smashed a window of a parked car on the campus and stole electronic devices inside. The man was charged with theft and destruction of property.
Michael Wayne Green Jr., 24, was arrested by university and Prince George’s County police and charged with one count of misdemeanor theft and one count of misdemeanor destruction of property for the March 25 incident. In his home and in his vehicle, police found a collection of property that could be linked to more thefts on the campus, as well as thefts in Greenbelt, New Carrollton and Landover.
While police are investigating possible connections to the other crimes, Green has not been charged with any other thefts. Police are currently investigating nine incidents to which Green could be connected and say some involve felony charges, meaning that the property stolen was worth more than $500.
University Police were able to issue an arrest warrant after looking at video footage from campus security cameras connecting Green to at least two separate incidents on the campus. Green has no affiliation with the university, and police said they expect to file additional charges once they identify the owners of the recovered property. Police believe he preyed on the university because of the high number of parked cars.
In cases where a number of misdemeanors have been committed, the state’s attorney could compound the charges into a continuum course of conduct, meaning that the numerous smaller crimes could be combined into one larger case carrying a more severe penalty.
From October 2008 to January of this year, there were only 10 reported thefts from vehicles. There was an uptick in February, when seven thefts from vehicle were reported, followed by 14 instances in March. Twelve instances have been reported so far in April.
When police searched Green’s house and car, they found cell phones, a few GPS devices, of which at least one was stolen from a car parked at the university, charger cords, a car stereo and a radar detector. They also collected an iPod he had on him that was also stolen from a campus-parked vehicle.
Cpt. John Brandt of University Police said the most common items stolen from cars on the campus recently were GPS devices, car radios, high-end stereo systems and iPods. An e-mail alert was sent to students in January with advice on how to avoid having property stolen from their cars.
Starting in May of last year, University Police began an initiative where they would look inside parked cars to see if they noticed any electronics out in the open that could possibly entice thieves. They then identify the owner using the license plate number and send a notice about the vulnerability. Brandt said police sent out about 600 warnings in 2008. So far this year, he said they have sent out 215.
He also said he believes the program was working and will continue to work.
“Until this guy showed up, our numbers were dropping off slowly,” Brandt said. “If there’s nothing visible in your car, the odds are really, really high that they’re going to move on to another car.”
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