Porter sustains burglary damage

The Office of Public Safety continues to investigate the forced entry and burglary of Porter House, which was discovered on Dec. 28.

Officer Chris Thompson, who discovered the break-in around 5:20 p.m. that day, reported the crime. At 11:15 p.m., students, faculty and staff received an e-mail informing them about the break-in.

A number of items have been reported missing by residents of Porter, and there was damage within the house. Several doors were broken as the intruder or intruders gained access to the residents’ rooms. As of press time, there are no reported suspects. The Middlebury Police Department (MPD) has gathered evidence and is currently performing an investigation.

“I was checking buildings around campus and as I patrolled near Porter House, I noticed that the freeze light was not in the window,” said Thompson. “As I walked up onto the porch, I noticed that the window in the entrance door was ajar. As I looked into the building, I found evidence that the house had been forcibly entered.”

Based upon dates and times that Facilities Services and Public Safety checked the house, the timeline for the crime is believed to be sometime between Dec. 27 and Dec. 28.

However, one day a year all roadways on campus are closed in order to meet requirements for maintaining their status as College roads instead of public ones. This keeps the Middlebury Police off campus. The night that Porter Field Road was closed off to public use, making it unable to be patrolled, was Dec. 25, so it is unclear whether or not this was a factor in the crime.

Residents of Porter were notified of the break-in through the same e-mail that was sent to the entire College community.

“Residents were provided detailed information and instructions shortly after the Crime Notice was sent,” said Officer Thompson. “I was finishing up my report at the time and the Crime Notice was sent to make the community aware so anyone with information regarding the incident could report it to Public Safety and the MPD.”

Johna Iannitto ’11, who lost $600 worth of personal belongings as well as her birth certificate and passport, was not satisfied with the way officials handled the situation.

“We should have been notified separately from the entire campus,” said Iannitto. “We asked [Thompson] to give us more information, and he did tell us about some of the damage, but I was completely surprised at the extent of the damage.”

The house was wrecked when residents returned to campus. Many of the locks on doors had been broken off, and rooms were torn apart.

“The house was destroyed, most of the bedroom doors had their locks smashed off,” said Iannitto. “The front door was smashed into; the glass was broken. My room was really obliterated. I came back to all of my stuff strewn across my room, my desk was rummaged through, my room was pillaged. They broke into my safe that had my passport and birth certificate in it, so now I also have to be worried about identity theft.”

Mori Rothman ’11 had his longboard stolen, and was also unhappy with the reaction of the administration to the incident.

“Officer Chris and the other public safety officers were really sympathetic, but we were not contacted by anyone else in the school administration, either to talk about insurance things, or even to say ‘We are really sorry to hear this,’” said Rothman. “That would have been nice.”
Although Rothman and Iannitto both still feel safe living in Porter, they expressed a desire for enhanced security at the house.

“Initially I was dissatisfied with not being able to get any help and feeling like I just lost $600 worth of my stuff,” said Iannitto. “I should not have to put insurance on my ski pants because I'm worried they will be stolen from my locked house behind my locked bedroom door. That bothered me at first, and also the fact that this is not the first time Porter has been broken into is upsetting. The school obviously needs to reconsider the security of this house.”

According to Thompson, Public Safety and the College will be reviewing the incident to see if any action can be taken to help prevent this type of incident from occurring in the future.

---