Thanks to a student who reported two stolen books to the Smith Family Bookstore, Eugene Police were able to arrest one of the most prolific University neighborhood burglars last week.
The suspected thief, Summer Marie Anderson of Eugene, walked into Smith Family at about 5 p.m. Tuesday with five bags of books, DVDs and video games she intended to sell. When bookstore employees Leigh Toelle and Paul Matsumoto saw that two of the books had been reported missing 10 days before, they called the West University Public Safety Station.
“The victim had reported a metaphysics book and a book in French, which was a pretty unique combination, so they remembered,” said Eugene police officer Randy Ellis.
Anderson was arrested on 23 total charges since August alone, 14 of which were charges of theft and burglary in the University area “from Patterson to Alder, from 16th to Broadway,” Ellis said. Most of the reports stated that she came in a house’s open front door late at night or early in the morning and stole valuable items while the victims were asleep.
“All the victims were students who didn’t lock their doors,” Ellis said.
The other nine charges on her record were identity theft. Ellis said Anderson had two stolen IDs with her when she was arrested.
“She was close enough in size, coloring, and hair length that she could have passed for both these people and even gotten a new one when it expired.”
Anderson, who worked at Sacred Heart Medical Center as a sterile processor for six years, lived with her father in an apartment in Eugene but had been staying with him at a motel when she was arrested.
Ellis said students can learn a lesson from the arrest.
“This proves you’ve got a better chance of catching the thief if you report it,” he said. “And to prevent it happening, lock your doors and don’t leave laptops or iPods out.”