Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Jenny Ries had good reason to be excited for last week. She was moved into a new house, participated in Kappa Kappa Gamma’s formal recruitment and saw friends for the first time since before summer.
Last week was thrilling – just not in the way Ries, Apple Valley, Minn., senior, expected.
According to police reports, burglars broke into Ries’ house at 1121 Ohio St. Aug. 14 and Aug. 18. During the burglaries two laptops were stolen. Ries lives with 11 of her sorority sisters.
“We’ve lived in Kappa Kappa Gamma for years,” Ries said, “and had been excited to move out for our senior year. But this has been a disaster.”
Betsy Proffitt, Lyons senior, walks down the hallway of her home at 1121 Ohio St. Tuesday evening. Shortly after the house was robbed Aug. 14 Proffitt's roommate posted a message on the home's refrigerator. The home houses to 12 Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority women.
The burglary on Ries’ house wasn’t an isolated incident. Thieves also reportedly stole a flat-screen TV from the house next doo, 1115 Ohio St., on Aug. 15. The connections between the houses went deeper than the location: Eight Kappa Kappa Gamma members live at 1115 Ohio St.
Ries said that during Rush Week no one was at the house or the house next door from about 7 a.m. until midnight. She said the police expected the perpetrators knew that they’d be gone most of the day and thought the houses would be easy targets.
The Lawrence Police Department would not identify any suspects, but Kim Murphree, the department’s spokeswoman, said police always consider common perpetrators when location and time of break-ins are close.
The first burglary at 1121 Ohio St. occurred early on Aug. 14 while everyone in Ries’ house was sleeping. The other two burglaries occured while the women were at sorority functions.
Allie Chalfant, an Overland Park senior, and her housemates at 1115 Ohio St. were gone most of the day Aug. 15 to do activities for Rush Week. Chalfant said they locked the doors, but workers were renovating the house. When they returned later that night, their flat-screen TV was gone. Chalfant said she thought the workers might have accidentally left a door unlocked.
“The workers had been in and out,” she said. “Our landlord felt like she was liable because when we left the doors were locked and when we came back they were unlocked.”
The burglars who came to Ries’ house Saturday night, around 9:30, broke through a window and kicked down four doors before stealing a laptop. Ries said she and her housemates arrived home early from their sorority house, and she thinks they may have scared the burglars away.
To prevent something like this from happening again, Ries said they are getting bars put over windows, motion lights, extra blinds and a security system courtesy of their landlord, Serena.
“Our house is a scary house now,” Ries said, “but we don’t care.”
Chalfant, who has the same landlord, said she gave them a new TV and planned to install a security system as well. Even with the added security, Chalfant said she would never feel as safe as she did before the burglary.
“It’s very scary,” she said. “It’s the last thing you want to be dealing with right now. The last thing you want to be worrying about.”
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