Two East Windsor teenagers were arrested on Monday, Feb. 24, in Gengras Student Union after they were found in possession of stolen property and burglary tools, according to police and the University’s Public Safety.
19-year-old Kyle Moule and 18-year-old Ryan Ouellette were arrested on charges of criminal trespassing, third-degree burglary, and possession of burglary tools. The two men were not students at the University of Hartford, but police believe they knew someone who goes to school here.
The two men had made several visit to campus, the first of which took place on Feb. 10. Two separate incidents stemmed from this date, both taking place in the Sports Center, where the two stole items from cars in a nearby parking lot, including a backpack with a laptop in it, a wallet, and more.
The second visit came about a week later when the two men returned, this time to the Hartt School, breaking into and stealing a number of items from one student’s locker.
“My bass trombone was gone, my backpack was gone, which has all my sheet music and stuff, and my bag of mutes, that was also gone,” said fifth-year student Luke Perry.
Perry says his trombone is worth anywhere from $4,500 to $5,000, which lead he and his family to look into local pawn shops, online sites like Craigslist and eBay, and more to see if anyone had tried to sell the instrument.
His backpack, along with all of his music, was found some days after the theft in Bloomfield, which brought Bloomfield and Hartford Police into this case.
The suspects, caught on camera, returned to campus on several occasions, until they were caught in GSU by an on-duty Public Safety officer.
The investigating officer in this case happened to be in Gengras Student Union at the time of the arrests when he recognized the two men from video surveillance footage, taken from the Sports Center back on Feb. 10. When questioned and detained, one of the suspects admitted to the thefts, and the two were taken into custody.
One of the suspects currently has a pending case for a burglary already.
