Police Blotter: Rider Students Reports Being Robbed in Dorm, Teen Arrested After Fight at Lawrence High

Armed Robbery

A 19-year-old Rider University student from Cranford, N.J., called Lawrence Township police at 11:22 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, to report that he had been robbed at knifepoint inside his dormitory room on campus last week, according to Lt. Charles Edgar, spokesman for the Lawrence Township Police Department.

The student told police that he was in his room in the Poyda residence hall when there was a knock on his door about 7 p.m. on Dec. 13 and he answered it to find a stranger who inquired about selling some books, Edgar said, explaining that the 19-year-old works for a company that buys used textbooks from students.

After the student invited the stranger into his room, the man allegedly pulled out a knife and demanded money, Edgar said. He said the 19-year-old told police he handed over some cash and the knife-wielding robber fled the room.

The 19-year-old described the robber as a white male, 19 to 21 years old, with a medium build, about 6 feet tall and 200 to 215 pounds, with brown medium-length hair, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt with “Rider University” written on it, according to Edgar.

Edgar said the incident remains under investigation by Detective James Smith. He did not release any other details and declined to comment when asked why the 19-year-old waited a week to report the crime.

"On Dec. 20, Lawrence Township Police informed Rider University that a report was made to them that morning by a student regarding this incident that allegedly occurred last week.  Rider is cooperating with the police investigation," Rider University spokesman Dan Higgins said. 

The 19-year-old is the fifth Rider University student to become a crime victim in recent weeks.

between 12:30 and 1 a.m. on Dec. 10 on Merritt Drive in Lawrence Township. And on Dec. 14 another Rider student crashed his car into a utility pole after he was shot at while on Spring Street in Trenton.

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Aggravated Assault

A 16-year-old Lawrence High School student was arrested Friday, Dec. 16, and charged with multiple offenses after she allegedly tried to use a pair of scissors to attack a younger female classmate, Edgar said.

He said the 16-year-old got into a physical fight with the 15-year-old in their classroom. Their teacher, with the help of other faculty, broke up the fight and separated the two by brining the older student out into the hallway, he said.

But the 16-year-old allegedly broke away from the adults in the hallway and rushed back into the classroom. Grabbing a pair of scissors, she headed toward the 15-year-old but was wrestled to the ground by a faculty member, Edgar said.

The 16-year-old was arrested by Officer Erini Papafilipakis and Detective Dave Burns and later charged as a juvenile with aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a weapon, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, making terroristic threats and criminal mischief, Edgar said, noting that the criminal mischief charge was because a window was damaged during the melee.

The 48-year-old male faculty member who subdued the 16-year-old suffered a minor shoulder injury, Edgar said.

He said the circumstances leading up to the fight remain under investigation by Detective Burns.   

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Thefts

Twenty-four condenser coils were stolen from air conditioning units on the roofs of two buildings in the 1000 block of Spruce Street recently, with the total damage estimated to be about $190,000, Edgar said.

Officer Hector Nieves was sent to one of the buildings at 11:04 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15, after workers there found 15 condenser coils missing, Edgar said. While on the roof investigating that crime, he said, Nieves noticed that air conditioning units on the roof of an adjacent building appeared to have been tampered with.

A total of nine condenser coils were later found to have been stolen from the roof of the second building, Edgar said.

A similar crime involving air conditioning components being stolen – likely to be sold by the thieves as scrap metal – was . In that crime, copper and aluminum components were removed from an industrial-sized air conditioning unit at the Sikh Sabha of New Jersey religious center on Bakers Basin Road.    

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Thefts

Property was stolen from two vehicles that were broken into in the parking lot of Gold’s Gym in the 4100 block of Quakerbridge Road during the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 14, Edgar said.

He said Officer Steve Simon was sent to investigate after a 37-year-old woman from Princeton called police at 8:13 a.m. to report that one of the windows of her 2010 Mercedes ML350 has been smashed and her purse – containing credit cards and personal items – had been stolen while she was in the gym.

While Simon was investigating that crime he was notified that another car in the gym parking lot – a 2010 BMW X3 belonging to a 75-year-old Princeton woman – had also been broken into sometime between 7:30 a.m. and about 8:15 a.m., Edgar said. One of the BMW’s windows had been broken out and the elderly woman’s purse taken, he said, noting that the stolen purse contained credit cards and a small amount of cash.

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Theft

At 7:50 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 14, a 52-year-old female employee called police to report that her wallet had been stolen from a desk drawer at the Mercer County Headquarters Branch of the Mercer County Library, which is located at the corner of Brunswick Pike (Business Route 1) and Darrah Lane East, Edgar said. He said the wallet contained cash and credit cards. Officer Thomas Chianese is investigating.

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Driving Under the Influence

Mary V. Gault, 58, of the 700 block of Madison Avenue in New York City, was arrested on Sunday, Dec. 18, on suspicion of drunk driving, according to Edgar.

An attendant at the Lukoil gas station at the corner of Lawrence Road (Route 206) and Lawrenceville-Pennington Road called police at 9:16 p.m. to report that a woman who appeared “disoriented and possibly drunk” had come to the station looking for help because her vehicle had become disabled on one of the ramps for Interstate 95, Edgar said.

Officer Richard Laird III responded to the gas station to investigate. Shortly after he arrived an AAA tow truck carrying Gault’s 1994 Ford Escape pulled up to the station. The vehicle had two flat tires, Edgar said.

While questioning Gault about what had happened to her vehicle, Laird allegedly detected an odor of alcohol on her person, Edgar said. He said she was taken into custody and charged with four offenses after she performed poorly on field sobriety tests.

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Criminal Mischief

Officer Chris Schuster was sent to Eldridge Park Elementary School on Lawn Park Avenue to investigate after staff at the school called police at 7:35 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 19, to report an act of criminal mischief in which someone had drawn an image of actress Elizabeth Taylor on one of the doors to the school’s gymnasium, Edgar said.

Anyone with information about any of the above crimes is asked to call Lawrence Township police at (609) 896-1111.

A copy of Lawrence Township's police dispatch log for Tuesday, Dec. 13, through Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011, can be viewed from the PDF box above. This log lists all significant calls for service and incidents for which officers filed a written report. Routine administrative assignments are omitted. Some data has been redacted to protect the identity of crime victims.