POLICE REPORTS

May 20
7:35 p.m.: University Police assisted City of Edinburg police in arresting a student who allegedly assaulted another student in parking Lot C. The victim reported the student knocked him to the ground, causing scrapes to his back, and afterward followed him in a vehicle around the city. The suspect was upset because the victim is now in a relationship with the suspect’s ex- girlfriend. The suspect was arrested on a charge of assault, a class A misdemeanor, and jailed.

May 22
4:49 a.m.: University Police stopped a suspicious vehicle leaving The Village apartments. The operator, a non-affiliated male, made conflicting statements about why he was on campus. The truck bed had three bikes and patio furniture that the driver said he retrieved from the trash dumpster and a pair of 36- inch bolt cutters behind the truck bench seat that the operator attempted to hide. Two bikes had UTPA bike permits on them. University Police contacted one of the bike owners who said his bike should be secured with a lock to a bike rack at The Village apartments. The operator was arrested and transported to jail. Officers found three cut locks and chains near the bike racks. In interviewing the suspect, it was learned he was in the country illegally and a member of a Mexican prison gang. Two days after the incident, another student came forward and reported his bicycle was stolen during the incident. The detective obtained an arrest warrant for theft, a class B misdemeanor, on the suspect. The suspect was arraigned in the Edinburg Municipal Court and received a $5,000 cash surety bond. He was returned to the Hidalgo County Jail.

May 31
6:34 p.m.: A staff member reported that he and his wife had arrived at work together the morning of May 31 and after work he noticed their vehicle was gone from the parking lot. He called his wife who advised him she had left and was en route to San Antonio. He said they had been arguing the night before and that he is concerned about his wife’s behavior and that she has no family or friends in San Antonio. Hospitals and local law enforcement agencies were contacted and an administrative welfare concern message was sent out. The Jim Wells County Sheriff’s Office contacted University Police and reported the woman was located in that county and had run out of gas.

June 1
9:53 a.m.: An international student reported a phone call scam she received on May 31 while off campus. She said she was told to make payment to specific accounts or she would be arrested and deported. She paid $2,896 and later received another call for a similar payment amount and decided to hang up. She reported the incident to the international student adviser and was told to contact the Office of the Attorney General Consumer Protection Division and the Federal Trade Commission.

June 4
1:58 a.m.: An officer conducted a status check of parking lot N2 after the police dispatcher received a phone call from the emergency phone in the lot. While checking the status of a portable building, the officer discovered that someone had broken the window with a rock. Review of the video footage showed a group of males near the emergency phone, with one activating the phone. The group then walked away.

–Compiled by Andrea Torres