On Jan. 21, a student met with an officer at the Winthrop University Police Department building in reference to “obscure text messages she had received.” The victim told the officer that she had received a message from a phone number “stating they had received a message through [Snapchat] that they would get paid [$20] to post pictures of the victim on the dark web.” The victim also received a message from a different phone number “stating roughly the same information,” according to the report. The victim told the officer that an individual (who is “listed as Suspect”) had “posted the information about her on Snapchat.” The victim showed the officer a Facebook page that allegedly belongs to the suspect. The victim denied that the two had a relationship and told the officer that she and the suspect had “previously exchanged messages via Instagram, but she had never sent him any photos of herself.” The victim said that she was “not sure what photos the Suspect claims he might have.” The officer attempted to make contact with the phone numbers but was unsuccessful. The victim was “advised to block the Suspect from all social media accounts and to not respond to any further text messages that she does not know who they are.” The victim was advised to notify WUPD should she think of anything else or figure out who the Suspect is.
An officer with WUPD was dispatched to Alumni Drive in regards to a hit-and-run collision. The victim — a Winthrop student — informed the officer that her car had been side-swiped overnight. According to the report, the officer “observed damage to the driver side rear fender well of the vehicle and the rear bumper.” The officer gave the victim a Victim Notification Form as well as a collision report. The officer later attempted to locate surveillance footage that might show how the damage occurred, but the officer “was unable to locate any camera footage.” The case has been administratively closed “due to lack of leads and evidence.”
On Jan. 21, a WUPD officer was dispatched to the parking lot on College Avenue in regards to a hit-and-run. The officer searched the parking lot but was unable to find any vehicles that may have been involved in a collision. The victim contacted WUPD and “advised that her vehicle was hit and nobody else was on scene.” The officer met with the victim and the victim showed the officer a dark grey Chevrolet Camaro “that did have scratches on the rear fender.” The victim showed the officer a note that had been left on the windshield by a Winthrop student. The subject called WUPD and said that she was on her way to meet with the officer. The subject arrived soon after with her father. The officer issued both the victim and the subject copies of the collision report. The subject was issued a citation for Leaving the Scene of an Accident (Parked Vehicle) and was “short form booked and released.”
On Jan. 22, a Winthrop student met with a WUPD officer “to discuss a petty larceny she was a victim of earlier that day.” According to the report, the student told the officer that she “had been on the front lawn of Withers emptying items from her book bag at 1:23 p.m.” Later that day, she realized that her wallet was missing. She reported the wallet and other personal belongings as stolen. The victim received a call from the credit union that issued her debit card informing her “that her missing items had been turned in to them” by a suspect initially referred to in the report by a nickname. However, cash and one of personal belongings that was reported missing were not turned in. The officer made contact with an employee of the credit union who was able to provide the officer with a still image of the suspect walking into the building. The credit union employee told the officer where the suspect works and “that he could be contacted if needed.” The next day, the officer made contact with the suspect at his place of employment. He told the officer that he had found the items on the sidewalk in front of Withers. He said that based off of the debit card, he turned the items into one of the credit union’s locations “in hopes of the property being returned to the owner.” The case has been administratively closed due to a lack of leads.
Graphic: Maggie Claytor/ The Johnsonian
