According to an all-campus email sent by Director of Public Safety (PSafe) Scott Rohde on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 12:30 a.m., an intruder broke into three residences on campus, one on Brainerd Avenue and two on High Street, between 11:20 p.m. and 11:48 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29. All three incidents were called into PSafe by students inside the houses. PSafe then called in the Middletown Police Department (MPD) who tracked down and arrested the suspect. The suspect was identified as Middletown resident Garrett Dandridge, who was previously banned from campus in 2019 in connection with trespassing, and arrested on trespassing charges in Sept. 2024. 

The MPD set up a K9 track and a police drone and canvassed the area, which led to Dandridge’s arrest on Washington Terrace at around 12:34 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30, a little more than an hour after the first break-in occurred. Dandridge is currently being held in police custody on a $50,000 bond and awaiting trial for three counts of burglary in the second degree. 

Burglary in the second degree is a charge given to those who unlawfully enter a residence while there is someone inside and who intends to commit a crime. At this time, nothing has been reported missing or stolen from any of the locations. Dandridge’s past arrests have been for trespassing charges, which indicated that he unlawfully entered buildings, but was not found to have an intent to commit a crime while there. In this case, officers were able to establish his intentions through his behavior, which included looking around the residences and entering different rooms. 

Dandridge was chased away from the residences he entered by students who were in them at the time, which likely kept him from stealing anything, according to the MPD.

“What I was certainly impressed by was the fact that people—students—were aware that…this person didn’t belong and…felt comfortable or safe enough to challenge him into leaving the location, which probably prevented him from victimizing anybody there,” MPD Captain Brian Hubbs said.

Additionally, students contacted by the police in all three residences were able to make a positive identification of Dandridge, and provided detailed descriptions of the clothes he was wearing and that he appeared to be a Black male, all of which assisted the MPD in making the arrest. 

“[Having] a written statement after the fact to say, ‘Yes, that’s the person I saw in my residence’—that’s where we get our authority to make the arrest,” Hubbs said.

Dandridge was able to enter the residences because students had left the doors open or unlocked in all three of the cases, leading PSafe to believe that he may have attempted to enter other residences in the area.

“It is possible that this person was checking multiple locations,” Rohde said. “When you look at the very close timeframe, it appears to me that he was checking areas, and anything that was open or accessible he went into.”

While cases of break-ins occur relatively infrequently on campus, multiple incidents within the past year have been linked to unlocked or open doors, including a theft at Low Rise Apartments on Sept. 7, 2024 and multiple thefts in Bennet Hall and West College on Apr. 17, 2024. The January incident is one of the few cases on campus or near in recent years when the suspect was identified and arrested. Other recent arrests include Dandridge’s previous trespassing in September 2024 and a suspect in a drive-by shooting at the corner of Pearl Street and Court Street in April 2024.

Cases of burglary in the second degree are also quite rare in Middletown, Conn., with only four reported cases in 2024, according to MPD crime statistics.

Residents of the Brainerd Avenue house that was broken into saw the intruder enter their rooms. 

“I was in my bedroom awake when I heard the door open and looked up to see the guy standing in my doorway,” Nola Mansour ’25 said. “I said ‘who are you’ and he started to leave down the stairs. I followed after a second and yelled ‘get out of our house’ at him, but by the time I was out by the stairway, he was leaving, so I only saw him for a second.”

The residents also praised the quick PSafe and MPD response.

“PSafe was very fast, and wanted to assure that they were on it,” Marie-Claire Smith ’25 said. “They talked about how Scott Rohde lives next door, and they were going to check on cameras there. They were trying to make sure that we felt comfortable.”

Soon afterward, Mansour was approached by the police to identify the suspect.

“The police came back after they ended up finding him, and brought me in a car to identify him in the [Center for Film Studies] parking lot,” Mansour said. “It was a whole thing with about 10 cars there.”

In the days following the incidents, PSafe conducted increased patrols, which stopped earlier this week. At this time, PSafe does not believe there is a continued threat to the campus. Students who are concerned for their safety are advised to keep their doors locked at all times, remain vigilant, and report any suspicious people or activity to PSafe or the MPD.

“Make sure, even when you’re there, certainly when you’re gone and when you’re sleeping, that [doors are locked],” Rohde said. “These things can happen at any time, even in the day, although they’re much more prevalent at night.”

Hubbs emphasized the importance of reporting suspicious people to PSafe, and especially taking care to remember and mention details about the incidents and people involved in them. 

“I don’t necessarily encourage everybody to challenge a trespasser for safety reasons, but if they’re not challenging them, at minimum [notify] Public Safety that they don’t belong in a timely manner,” Hubbs said. “It’s important to pay attention to physical characteristics: height, weight, race or ethnicity, hairstyle, anything particular about a person.”

Overall, the MPD and PSafe were impressed and grateful for the quick reporting and collaboration by students involved in these incidents. 

“I’m very pleased that our students reported this quickly,” Rohde said. “We involved the police early and had a good outcome.” 

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