03/12/2020
Jessica Lincoln | staff writer
A 37-year-old man has been charged in the Feb. 6 thefts of a laptop, credit cards and petty cash from College Hall, as well as additional thefts at the University of Pittsburgh.
Long Beach, Calif. resident Karim Patrece Davis was charged by the Duquesne University Police Department on March 1. Raymond Marr was listed as the arresting officer.
Davis was arrested on Feb. 25 in connection to the Feb. 6 robbery of a Pitt graduate student, Nathanial Buettner, at the Michael L. Benedum Hall of Engineering, the Post-Gazette reported. He was separately charged in the thefts of other wallets, credit cards and money from Pitt’s campus on Feb. 26.
All three incidents, including the one at Duquesne, are suspected to have taken place over the course of the same night.
An unidentified man wearing a Michael Kors shirt, black Nike pants and yellow and black shoes was seen accessing College Hall, Mellon Hall and Rockwell Hall on the evening of Feb. 6. At the time, it was reported only that the suspect had stolen cash and a credit card from one unidentified College Hall office.
“The individual used a flat-tipped tool to pry open the office door and a small metal lockbox that was inside the office,” according to an email blast sent to students on Feb. 7.
Later, it was determined that a university Macbook Pro laptop and at least one other credit card had also been stolen, and that at least two offices had been affected.
This is not the first time Davis has been charged with burglary.
In 2011, he and others were charged in a similar series of thefts at universities in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, including UCLA, California State University and the University of California, Irvine, according to the Associated Press. He later pleaded no contest to four charges of burglary in LA County, receiving two 16-month sentences and one 2-year sentence in county jail.
The university police department has charged Davis with two counts of burglary, two counts of criminal trespass and one count each of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, access device fraud and criminal mischief.
The University of Pittsburgh Police Department has also charged him with three counts of theft by unlawful taking, two counts of access device fraud, one count of receiving stolen property and one count of criminal conspiracy.
Davis is currently awaiting a preliminary hearing on all charges.
As for Duquesne, the advice given in the university’s Feb. 10 update still applies:
“If you see something or someone suspicious, don’t hesitate to contact Public Safety.”