SMU Police Department is pursuing a suspect it believes to be responsible for a string of thefts at the Dedman Center for Lifetime Sports.
The suspect is not affiliated with the campus at all and has a history of theft, acting SMU Police Chief Rick Shafer said.
The suspect was caught on videotape police pulled from City Place Target’s security camera system.
“[The cameras] have a good shot of him,” Shafer said. “And we have enough evidence on him to charge him.”
The Target parking lot video cameras captured a clear description of the car the suspect was driving. The police then tracked the plate to the owner, which was not the suspect’s car. From there, the police spoke with the owner of the car, who provided police with more information on the suspect, along with a photograph.
Police compared the photograph with the tape footage and concluded it was the same man.
Dedman Center member Aren Cambre, who was a victim of one of the five thefts that occurred on Oct. 5, provided police with the tip.
After learning that his credit card, along with his wallet, wedding ring and pocket knife, had been stolen from his secured locker in the men’s room, he called the credit card company to freeze his account. By then, someone had already made $2,500 in fraudulent purchases at City Place Market off of I-75 and Henderson. The credit card company had traced some of the purchases to the Target located in City Place Market. Cambre passed the information along to SMU Police, who followed the lead.
“I’m glad that the [SMU Police] police department handling this is interested in solving the crime. I don’t think it would have gotten this kind of attention from the Dallas Police Department,” he said.
Since Oct. 5, two more thefts occurred at Dedman Center, bringing the total number to nine. Police have no evidence the crimes are related.
Dedman Center administrators and police do not know how someone got past the swipe card entrance in Dedman, but Shafer believes the suspect may have slipped through during peak hours – when a large amount of members were passing through the entrance and exit areas.
Since the thefts, Dedman Center Director Judith Banes has set forth a new policy to heighten security. It requires all Dedman Center guests to wear a visitor pass and leave their driver’s license at the main desk.
“It’s just one more way we can increase security measures,” she said.
And, just in case the suspect decides to return before police catch him, Banes has a photograph of the suspect.
Accordig to Banes, he looks like a person who could blend in easily at SMU. She has shown the photo to her staff in hopes that they will be able to identify him, too.
