Ball State's Winter Break wasn't so relaxing for roommates Nate Pope and Scott Sears. The Ball State students had their house broken into between Christmas Eve and the time they made it back to Muncie.
Pope and Sears's break-in was one of 10 reported during the weeks that many Ball State students leave their homes for Christmas and New Year's, Bob Fey, associate director of Public Safety, said.
"It varies from one break to the next," he said. "Obviously this time there has been a significant number of break-ins that have been found by [the University Police Department]. They happen over break because the offenders know that no one is at home."
Pope and Sears had hundreds of dollars worth of belongings stolen from their house including two flat-screen TVs, shoes, jerseys, hats, three iPods, a knife, a PDA and Xbox games, Pope said.
He said he and his roommates didn't realize their belongings were stolen until a few days after Christmas.
The intruder entered the house by breaking in a backdoor window after finding that the door was locked. The thief robbed the upstairs bedrooms, leaving the ones downstairs untouched, the roommates said.
"It takes away your peace of mind and [it] feels uncomfortable knowing that a couple of dudes went through your personal items when you're sitting at home at Christmas with your family," Pope said. "Next time I'll definitely make sure I take all my personal items home, anything of value.
"I'd definitely recommend getting renter's insurance. I wish I had done that."
Pope said after he realized what had happened, he called UPD, but he doesn't expect to see any of the items returned because he and his roommates couldn't provide serial numbers for the items that were taken.
Senior magazine major Laura Allen said her apartment was also broken into over break, with her TV as her biggest loss, along with a drawer full of jeans.
After Allen's roommate found the backdoor broken into, she called UPD, the landlord and her insurance company.
"I was prepared to see stuff missing. It didn't look like they went through a lot of my stuff, though. I was shocked because I had a drawer with jeans in it and all my jeans were taken ,and I didn't expect people to steal my jeans," she said. "Of all the things they took, I thought, ‘My jeans?' It was a shock, I was trying to be prepared."
Allen said it was a hard scene to look at, different from the small personal items that have been stolen from her before.
"I have had stuff stolen before, but it had just been little things. It didn't surprise me that it happened, though," she said. "I felt violated, I know that is kind of a cliché and I thought someone had the nerve to steal my stuff, and I don't have the money to replace [it]."
UPD said break-ins also occurred at a number of locations on and around Ball State, including Neely Avenue, Ashland Avenue, Carson Street, in Beacon Hill apartments and in the Teachers College.
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