Two suspects accused of involvement in separate crimes—a spate of on-campus library computer robberies and a purse theft—were arrested this week by the Department of Public Safety and the New York Police Department.
Nelson Almeyda was arrested Tuesday for stealing at least five unattended laptop computers from Butler and Avery libraries on Friday and Monday, in addition to theft from the Jewish Theological Seminary on Tuesday. Also, police arrested a woman on Thursday for stealing an unattended handbag from Café 212 on Monday night.
Public Safety identified Almeyda as a suspect after reviewing video footage from the incidents, and dispatched plainclothes officers around campus in efforts to apprehend him. After a laptop was stolen Tuesday at JTS by a suspect fitting Almeyda’s description, a plainclothes Public Safety officer identified him entering Avery Library. Almeyda was detained in the Public Safety office before NYPD officers arrested him.
Almeyda had a laptop in his possession when arrested, which police determined had been stolen Tuesday morning from New York University, Associate Vice President for Public Safety James McShane said. The computer stolen from JTS was later found within the JTS building and returned to its owner, according to public safety officials.
“He walked into Avery Library, into a public place, and we engaged him in conversation. Across the conversation we asked him to come to our offices, which they [most suspects apprehended] do, and then we call the police,” McShane said.
In one Avery larceny which Almeyda also allegedly committed, a graduate student’s laptop and wallet were stolen. The laptop had the student’s masters thesis on it, prompting her to post flyers in the days following asking the thief to e-mail her the thesis and offering a reward.
Almeyda is not a University affiliate, but had obtained a temporary reading card granting him access to libraries, McShane said. Cards can be obtained only with government-issued identification, and are valid only for a single day and a particular library, Butler administrative assistant Luis Martinez said. According to Martinez, public safety guards in Butler are usually careful with these passes.
Almeyda has been charged with a felony count of criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, misdemeanor counts of criminal trespassing in the third degree, and possession of burglar tools, according to New York State court information.
The woman detained for the larceny in Lerner Hall was also identified from video surveillance. “We put out an alert with some video of her as well as with a picture of her in the act, and today a University affiliate apparently saw her on the street based on our poster and contacted the security officers,” McShane said.
Plainclothes Public Safety officers followed the woman—whose name police declined to release—until NYPD officers from the 26th Precinct arrested her at 113th Street and Broadway.
“Simply said, we achieved our mission,” McShane said.
Laptops have been stolen from Butler in the past, a staffer at the Butler circulation desk
revealed. Last spring, a man using his girlfriend’s Columbia identification card was apprehended for larceny.
“It’s a shame. Just because this is Columbia—you think Columbia and you think that crime will stop at the gates of an Ivy League school,” the staffer said.