According to a series of three all-campus emails sent by Public Safety (PSafe) on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 10:54 p.m., Friday Sept. 13 at 1:08 a.m., and Friday, Sept. 13 at 11:49 a.m., students were harassed by individuals driving on Church Street, a student was awoken on Friday night when a stranger entered her dormitory in Bennet Hall, and a trespasser was identified and arrested at Olin Library. All three incidents were reported to PSafe and responded to by the Middletown Police Department (MPD), leading to the identification of the vehicle in the Church Street case. The case at Bennet is currently being investigated by the MPD. 

These mark the third, fourth, and fifth incidents reported on campus this semester and the fifth and sixth trespassing cases this calendar year after after an intruder entered the Butterfield A dormitory in January during winter break, an unknown suspect entered the Bennet and WestCo dormitories this past April and stole student belongings, an unknown individual attempted to enter a house on Pine Street on Saturday, Sept. 7, and someone broke into Low Rise and stole cash on Saturday, Sept. 7. 

“We tend to see this type of activity, where perpetrators anticipate that…it’s still warm enough [that students are] likely to have windows open, doors ajar, maybe even propping some stuff; there are still outside activities,” Director of Public Safety Scott Rohde said in response to the Sept. 7 incidents. “The first four to five weeks of school and then again after spring break until commencement, that tends to be where we see these things clustered.”

Harassment also occurs infrequently on campus, with the last major case being an incident of physical assault against a student on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023 in the High/Low Rise area. Many cases of harassment are reported on PSafe awareness reports and not published in all-campus emails. According to the awareness reports, there have been three cases of harassment on campus, including this incident, since June 2024. 

“It varies a lot depending on the year,” Rohde said. “I don’t think there’s a strong pattern by way of time, time of year. I’d say it’s, in my experience, more event-driven. For example, with the elections coming up, I think we will see more of this kind of thing from people who support both sides. There will be people with banners, that sort of thing we’ve had happen.”

PSafe’s response to a report of a suspicious vehicle or person differs on a case-by-case basis. When they don’t believe it’s appropriate to send an all-campus alert, they will ask affected members of the community for support. 

“Sometimes with sharing [the information] on a more limited basis, [we] share it with the RIDE drivers, saying ‘Hey, we’re not going to notify the whole campus, but if you see this guy, let us know,’” Rohde said. “That happens frequently, they’ll say ‘Oh yeah, we saw this person in the area’ and they will call it in.” 

Church Street Harassment 

The incident on Church Street was reported to PSafe by two students, who described the white vehicle and the actions of the three to four individuals inside of it. 

“Their vehicle was driving up and down Church Street and there was a loudspeaker blasting, and part of the sound projected was like the sound of gunshots,” Rohde said. “I think there was some other sounds being made also, but that was what was very concerning.” 

The students reported that the people in the car were holding an object in their hands, leading to concerns about them holding a weapon. These concerns were compounded by the sounds of gunshots coming from the vehicle. 

Although the incident was reported by the two students who were involved, the vehicle had been harassing other students throughout the night, including Stella Loezos ’27 and Tenley Flint ’27, who saw the vehicle on their way to the Butterfields around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10.   

“It stopped in the middle of an intersection, so our feelers were up already, and then a bunch of young men, boys, stuck their heads out the window and there was this really loud [sound],” Loezos said. “We thought it was a gunshot, and we kind of froze, and then they sped off and they were yelling.”

That night, PSafe was on the lookout for a vehicle matching the description given by the students. Loezos and Flint reported seeing PSafe and the MPD surrounding the vehicle after they left the Butterfields and were heading towards Low Rise later that night. 

“We just went up and there was the cops on one side and then PSafe on the other, and I think we talked to PSafe and were like ‘Did you just pull these guys over for yelling at people and playing gunshot noises, because that just happened to us with that car,’” Flint said. “They said it was maybe an air horn or something.” 

PSafe now has the license plate of the vehicle on record and does not suspect that it will be involved in further incidents. 

“That information was passed down to the police, and my understanding is that the police were going to follow up with the vehicle owner,” Rohde said. “My understanding further was that they did speak to people involved and they were all juveniles, like high school-age kids, and there was no weapon. It was just the speaker and they had a blow horn and some other things like that, but there was not a gun or anything.” 

Bennet Hall Break-In

A few days after the incident on Church Street, a student called in to report that someone had entered her dormitory. 

“That was reported by the student in that room,” Rohde said. “There was just the one student in there, in their own room, and they were awoken by the door opening and said something briefly to the individual, [who] immediately left.” 

Although nothing was taken from the room, likely because the intruder fled after being noticed by the students, PSafe believes that the person had intended to steal small items like cash or portable electronics from the dormitory. 

“They looked college-aged and are known to carry a backpack,” Rohde said. “They’re known to blend in with the student population, fitting the same profile of college students and wearing the attire that would be perfectly usual for a college student.” 

The all-campus email described the suspect as a male with red curly hair, approximately 5’10.” Although the MPD and PSafe responded to the incident, they were unable to locate the suspect at the scene. PSafe believes that the suspect’s ability to blend in as a college student allowed them to easily enter and leave Bennet. 

“It’s also early in the year,” Rohde said. “As time goes on, people in those living spaces have a better idea, usually, of who occupies this part of the building; they kind of start to know each other, at least on sight.” 

After sending out the all-campus safety alert emails, PSafe has received an increase in calls from people reporting that they saw an individual matching the description of the suspect provided by PSafe. Rohde emphasized that students should continue to call in any suspicious activity. 

“Many students want to be sure; they don’t want to call every time they see someone who they don’t know, [who] may very well be visiting someone in the building or something like that,” Rohde said. “We tell students [to] look at the behavior less than the person. Look at what is the person doing? Do they look uncomfortable? Did they break away from a group that was going somewhere?” 

Olin Library Trespasser 

Shortly after PSafe sent out the all-campus alert about the break-in at Bennet, an individual matching the suspect’s description was spotted at Olin Library. PSafe and the MPD responded to the report, leading to the suspect’s arrest on trespassing charges. While the suspect, identified as Middletown resident Garrett Dandridge, was taken in by the police for trespassing at Olin, there is no confirmed link between him and the Bennet break-in. 

According to police reports, Dandridge had been storing his belongings, including toiletries and clothing, in a locker in Olin. After being asked to leave the building by the clerk on duty that night, Dandridge left through the back door, triggering the fire alarm. PSafe responded to the incident and kept track of Dandridge’s location, securing the scene until the MPD could arrive and take the suspect into custody. 

“Oftentimes, just the presence of a Public Safety officer in the area will cause people to move on,” Rohde said. “In this particular case, the person did leave the immediate area, but because we were there, [we] were able to keep eyes on the person and direct the police to exactly where he was.” 

This incident was not Dandridge’s first time being warned off campus. The police report mentions that he had previously been banned from campus by PSafe for trespassing in 2019 and 2021. 

The case in 2019 was responded to by police, who chased him on foot in the Cross Street area after he trespassed on campus that November. Students who had seen him on campus called PSafe, who then attempted to speak to Dandridge, prompting him to flee, which led to the foot chase. According to police reports, Dandridge was first banned from campus in August 2019. 

Police are currently investigating his presence on campus on Friday, Sept. 13. Students should continue to be vigilant and report any suspicious behavior to PSafe or the MPD. Rohde recommended that students specifically be on the lookout for people who seem unfamiliar with their surroundings, are checking doors to see if they are open, and spend time in stairwells waiting for hallways to clear. Students should also be careful when they are in their dormitories or houses, especially at night. 

“People who live in wood frames, people who live off campus, people who live in program houses, make sure your porch lights are on at night,” Rohde said. “Make sure, even when you go to bed, there’s lights on in the common space, which is usually in those houses, a living room or dining area…. We use LED lighting, it’s very energy efficient, and we find it is far less likely that burglars go into those spaces as opposed to areas where the lights are out.” 

Additionally, students worried about potential theft should be careful to avoid bringing valuables like wallets, cash, or credit cards to parties and to avoid leaving laptops or phones unattended when in public study spaces. These protective behaviors, alongside securing living spaces, become especially important as daylight hours get shorter.

“I’d say the answer is back to basics, which is good communication with your housemates or roommate, and I call that locking hygiene,” Rohde said. “If you’re the last one to leave, make sure the doors are locked. Make sure the windows are closed and locked.”

Spencer Landers contributed to reporting and can be reached at sklanders@wesleyan.edu. 

Caleb Henning can be reached at chenning@wesleyan.edu.