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Students hit by random thefts

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Eleven thefts from students’ residence-hall rooms took place over the weekend in Ogg and Sellery Halls, University of Wisconsin police reported.

Police are currently investigating the incidents, in which both cash and property were taken.

According to a police release, the suspect is a white or Hispanic male about 20 years old and 5-foot-10 with dark “spiky” hair. The release also said witnesses described him as wearing a light blue, short-sleeved button-down shirt and dark jeans or slacks.

According to the release, the thefts occurred between midnight and 5 a.m. Saturday.

The thefts occurred in unlocked rooms in the two downtown residence halls. At least three of the targeted rooms had people in them at the time of the crime.

UW freshman Pathik Soni, one of the victims, was sleeping in his Ogg Hall room at the time of the burglary. Soni said the burglar found his wallet and took $60 from it.

“I had been asleep on the couch … after 1:30 a.m. (when the robber must have come in),” Soni said, adding his roommate came back to bed around 2:30 in the morning.

Soni said he often leaves his door unlocked because his friends often come and wake them up in the morning to go to breakfast.

Soni said the days of keeping his door unlatched during the night are over.

Soni said two friends on his floor were also victims, and both of them had $80 stolen from their wallets. He added a girl he knew a floor above him had money stolen. Although some people in Ogg saw the suspect, Soni knows he might not get his stolen money back.

“It doesn’t seem too hopeful,” Soni said, adding police gave him a pamphlet describing theft.

Soni’s friend Anne Brownson, a UW freshman also living in Ogg, was angry someone would barge into someone’s room while they were sleeping and steal personal belongings.