Since the arrest of 23-year-old Andy Hicken at Shuttles Hall, several of the hall’s residents have come to the defense of a man they call an ideal roommate and friend. However, as police uncover more about his criminal history, some residents have begun to question the man they thought they knew.

SMU Police arrested Hicken April 11 on outstanding felony theft charges in Franklin County, Texas. Police discovered the warrants when they ran checks on residents while investigating the three fires in Shuttles earlier that week. Police have since named Hicken a suspect in the arson investigation.

First booked into the University Park jail, Hicken was later moved to Dallas’ Lew Sterrett Justice Center. He awaits extradition to Utah on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Despite the charges against him, several Shuttles residents have affirmed their continued support of Hicken, who lived with them in the residence hall for four months prior to the arrest.

Hicken’s stay began when he came from East Texas to visit a friend, said first-year Shuttles resident Justin Briggs. After staying the weekend, he told the residents that he was no longer able to live with his uncle whom he’d been staying with in McKinney, Texas. Because his roommate had moved out earlier in the semester, Briggs offered Hicken the extra bed in his room.

“Andy crashed in half the rooms in Shuttles,” Briggs wrote in a letter published in the April 17 issue of The Daily Campus. “He was a better resident of Shuttles than most students. He has become my best friend.”

During his four-month stay, students describe Hicken as a model resident.

“If there was a hall meeting, Andy was there. He played on intramural teams with us. He treated the [resident assistants] and the hall director with respect. And when hall evaluations were passed out to every student, Andy received one too,” Briggs said.

Soon after his arrest, Hicken made a phone call to Briggs saying he was unsure why he had been jailed and asking his friend to bail him out. Briggs successfully rallied Hicken’s friends in Shuttles to raise the $5,000 for Hicken’s bond. But before they were able to pay for his release, police notified Briggs that Hicken had been transferred to Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas and was being held without bail.

At the time of Hicken’s transfer, neither Briggs nor Hicken’s uncle, Randy, with whom he’d been staying prior to moving into Shuttles, were notified of the reason. As they pushed for information, the two found out more about Hicken than they had ever suspected.

“Despite what the students in Shuttles Hall are saying regarding this man, he is a convicted felon who has quite a track record of run-ins with the police,” Capt. Mike Snellgrove said.

In addition to the felony theft charge in Texas, Hicken’s criminal history includes an unspecified violation in California and convictions in Utah of threatening to use a dangerous weapon in a fight, simple assault, burglary of a vehicle and theft by receiving stolen property.

Briggs said he was unaware of his friend’s criminal history.

“If I had a dark past like that, though, I wouldn’t be telling my new friends, either,” he said.

Police are still investigating links Hicken may have had to other crimes committed at or around SMU including the Shuttles arson.

“I can vouch for his whereabouts during the arson,” Briggs said. “There’s no way he could have done that.”

Both Briggs and junior Shannon Schmidt said that Hicken was talking with them in the Shuttles lobby at the time the fires were set. Randy Hicken is concerned that police may try to frame his nephew for the crime because he is an easy target.

During his arrest, police found pawn tickets in Hicken’s possession. Although the pawn tickets could have come from selling stolen property, they don’t appear to correspond to reports of stolen property on campus, said Capt. Tommy Lee Jones of the SMU Police Department.

“I’m not trying to defend Andy, but it makes sense that SMU would try to pin these crimes on him as an unaffiliated person,” he said.

Although he is still a suspect, Hicken has not been charged with the arson.

Hicken’s arrest follows two other incidents this year in which known criminal activity occurred in the residence halls, Snellgrove said. First-year business pre-major Doug Havard, who lived in Perkins Hall, was arrested in February for attempting to sell 10 gallons of GHB to undercover narcotics officers.

Later that month, police arrested Plano Senior High School student Jesus Javier Guerra who was staying with friends in a residence hall, after a Cockrell-McIntosh resident witnessed him breaking into a car.

“The SMU students are always fussing at the police to protect them and stop writing so many tickets,” Snellgrove said. “Yet members of the community were allowing these men in their homes.”