WATERVILLE, Maine — A Waterville transient with whom police in the Elm City have dealt several times is facing a felony charge for stealing laptops from Colby College students, according to police.
Robert Nichols, 28, who has prior convictions for drugs and theft, was booked on a charge of felony theft on Thursday, according to Waterville Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey.
Officer Dennis Picard had been dispatched to Colby College around 1 p.m. Thursday to investigate the theft of several laptops, Rumsey explained.
Two students met with Picard outside the Robert dining hall and told the officer their laptops had been stolen from an area outside the dining hall, Rumsey said. Campus employees and campus security told Picard they had seen a suspicious man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and carrying a green backpack.
Picard determined that the man had left the area in a taxicab and been dropped off in the Elm Plaza area, according to Rumsey.
Picard spotted a man matching the description, who turned out to be Nichols, as he was coming out of Hannaford supermarket, Rumsey said.
Upon seeing the officer, Nichols fled back into the store, but Picard was in hot pursuit and the suspect was quickly detained, Rumsey said. He said two laptops, one valued at $2,000 and the other at $2,200, were found in Nichols’ backpack.
Nichols was placed under arrest and brought to the Kennebec County Correctional Facility after he was unable to post $2,500 bail, Rumsey said. Nichols remained at the jail on Friday morning.
Rumsey said Nichols could face further charges in connection with a number of other thefts at Colby that were reported to police throughout the week.
Sooner or later expensive colleges like Colby will be ringed in by a very tall fence with gates manned by security people. Parents who very often are sending their kids a long way from home and writing large checks will expect their kids to be safe from crime.
Good job by WPD. Students too. Watch out for your “stuff”.
Practice SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. Then practice it some
more…….everyday, all the time.
Glad to see the thief got caught but if my son / daughter told me that had happened to them i would have raised hell with them for not having it with them at all times !
Given the number of stories in the news about excessive drinking at Colby the thefts were probably rather easy. The perpetrator could just wait for a weekend dance and steal from students in drunken stupors on benches. Naturally, this wouldn’t happen at the school in Brunswick that Colby aspires to equal.
This is what happens when a college’s food service requires students to put their backpacks in cubbies outside of the food area, because they’re worried someone might steal a banana or a box of milk from the food service.
Yep and they ARE probably correct in that assumtion based on past
experiences in dealing with the “me , me, me, generation.
The cheapest laptop listed was valued at $ 2000 !
What the heck are these kids doing with something that valuable , not under their complete supervision.