Serial caller

A UA student continued to receive numerous harassing phone calls for two to three months while working at the Student Recreation Center’s Wildcat Threads store; she reported this to a University of Arizona Police Department officer on March 18 at 2:22 p.m.

She told the officer an unknown man repeatedly called the store asking questions about items the store didn’t carry on-site or online. The store caller ID showed “private” whenever the man called, and he would ask about items even after being told they didn’t carry them.

The questions he asked were not threatening or personal in nature, but the employee grew annoyed with them, especially when the store was busy. In the past two to three months, she had taken about 15 calls from the man.

She described the man as having a deep, almost raspy voice, no accent and sounding to be in his 30s.

Another UA student and store manager reported receiving several calls from a man asking identical questions. She received the calls while at separate stores and estimated the total amount to be 15. 

She sent an email to other stores and found out the man had called the stores in McKale Center, Park Place Mall, Roy Place, Main Gate Square and the UA Bookstore. All the questions he asked during the calls were consistent.

The store manager said the man appeared to recognize when a manager answered the phone and would hang up. No staff members asked the man to stop calling. The store’s Management Information Specialist was working with University Information Technology Services to identify the caller’s number.

The officer advised the two students to ask the man to stop calling and document when they did this. If they were unable to do this, the officer said they should document each time he calls and contact UAPD.

Runaway

A Silver Mine Subs employee reported his tip jar being stolen on March 19 at 11:43 p.m. in Coronado Residence Hall.

The employee described the supposed thief as a young black male with camo pants and a dark sweater that was pulled over his head. The UAPD officer drove around the area looking for the described individual. When driving on Fourth Street and Third Avenue, he noticed three non-UA-affiliated youths walk westbound on the sidewalk. All the individuals went over to the officer’s vehicle to speak with him.

After speaking with them, the officer concluded they were not involved with the theft. One of the youths was shown as a missing child from the Marana Police Department. He said he left home last Friday and has not returned. The officer called the child’s mother and informed her he was with her son. She agreed to pick him up but said her son would probably get out of the car before getting home or leave once they arrived. The other two left the scene.

Once the child’s mother arrived, she spoke with her son for a while, and then the police spoke to him, because he said he did not want to leave with his mother and go back home. The child eventually agreed to go home with his mother and got in the back passenger seat of the vehicle. 

While the vehicle was stopped at Fourth Street and Euclid Avenue, the child fled about four minutes after leaving. The officer drove around the area but could not locate the child; he still remains missing with the Marana police system.