Car theft rises on Union campus
Recently, two car thefts have taken place on Union Campus. The thefts happened on two separate occasions, October 16 and 21, though both incidents occurred around the same time, the first at 2:15 a.m. and the second at 2:30 a.m. Clery warning notices were issued via email by campus safety on the dates of each event. Both thefts occurred in the Prescott parking lot, and both cars in question were locked when broken into.
Both vehicles were either Hyundai or Kia models made between the years of 2011 and 2022, which have statistical likeliness to be targeted due to their weaker security systems and ease of hot-wiring. If you own a car of these brands made during this time frame, campus safety suggests contacting your dealership about getting it fixed as part of an update to the system.
The first incident occurred over the tournament weekend, to a 2015 Hyundai Elantra owned by Union College student Benjamin Franks. The rear driver window was broken in as the car was locked, and the car was hotwired causing significant damage to the steering column as the paneling was ripped out. The car was hotwired, and the thieves began driving toward CVC, according to security footage, before the car was pulled over at AdventSource because the car alarm was sounding. The suspects tried to silence the alarm for 10 minutes before the Union soccer tournament bus came back, at which point the suspects fled toward AdventSource and out of view. The police were alerted, and one fingerprint was found on the scene. Franks got a quote for the damages, which came out to around 3,000 dollars. When asked about the subject, Franks said, "Don't get your car stolen."
The second incident happened five days later, when Samuel Nunez woke in the morning to find his car missing. Nunez said, “I was asleep, and in the morning when I went to go to church, my car wasn’t there.” He kept looking for the vehicle with the help of two other students before calling Dustin Sauder, the campus safety director. Nunez then called the police, prior to Sauder’s arrival. Nunez’s report was given to both the police and campus safety. On Oct. 24, the Lincoln Police Department found Nunez’s vehicle on South 43rd St. The rear passenger window was broken similarly to the earlier incident, and the police looked for any evidence of the theft, including fingerprints in the car itself. Nothing was stolen from the vehicle, though Nunez said, “My papers in the backseat were scattered everywhere, like they were looking for something.”
There are two suspects in the case, though nothing has been released as to the identification of the two thieves. The pair were caught on video surveillance in both circumstances wearing similar clothing each time and carrying the same backpack.
When asked what Union College was doing to prevent these thefts, Sauder said, “Campus Safety is working on adding more cameras to our system across campus to increase our coverage to help us prevent instances like this while looking into other methods of crime prevention.” He suggested more precautions, such as parking your vehicle in good lighting, ensuring your car is locked and making sure valuables are not left inside. He also recommends those with a Hyundai or KIA to contact their dealership for a system update and mentioned that some police departments in Nebraska had begun providing wheel locks for these exact situations.
By James Smartt