Semple Street home burglarized over winter break

While Pitt’s campus shut down for the holidays, a home on Semple Street was burglarized, marking the 24th burglary of this academic year.

The resident of the home, a Pitt student, returned to his hometown for the winter holidays on Dec. 22. He realized his items were missing when he returned to school Wednesday. The exact time and date the incident took place is unknown but Pitt police responded to the incident at 2 a.m. on Jan. 4, according to Pitt police media logs.

Pittsburgh police spokesperson Emily Schaffer said the burglar came in through a window with broken locks to enter the home before stealing an Xbox and TV.

The Jan. 4 incident was the first of the semester, but one of many burglaries in South and Central Oakland since the summer — the majority of which occurred between October and December.

Prior to this incident, the last three reported burglaries all took place Dec. 1. The first occurred some time between 8:30 a.m. and noon on the 3700 block of Parkview Avenue, when a suspect entered a house through a rear window. A house was also burglarized on the 300 block of Meyran Avenue between 10 p.m. and midnight. The third burglary took place on the 3400 block of Ward Street, when a home was burglarized for the second time.

City police arrested two people — 18-year-old Jamal Kyte-Saverly and an unnamed 17-year-old man — in connection with the Meyran Avenue burglary on Dec. 1. Kyte-Saverly was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit burglary and overnight accommodation with person present, one count of theft by unlawful taking, one count of burglary and four counts of receiving stolen property.

Police have not made any other arrests in relation to the other burglaries.

Schaffer said city police are investigating the most recent burglary as its own incident, and not in connection with the other burglaries which occurred in the fall semester. Since the initial burglaries on Oct. 9, both Pitt and city police have increased patrol in the area.

Joe Miksch, a Pitt spokesperson, said a Pitt police crime alert was not issued for this burglary because the exact date of the crime was unknown.

As with the Semple Street burglary, Pitt police crime alerts were not issued for several of the past burglaries, although for different reasons.

The chief of police — Chief James Loftus — issues crime alerts when serious, unresolved crime is committed on or near Pitt’s campus and when the crime creates a threat of harm to faculty, staff or students. If the crime has a likelihood of repetition, an alert — like those warning students to lock up — is issued to prevent similar incidents, Miksch told The Pitt News in November.

In regards to the latest burglary, Miksch said Pitt police will assist city police with investigating the burglary, as they have done in the past.

The police departments are asking that anyone with information regarding the incidents call the Pittsburgh Police Department at 412-422-6520 or Pitt police at 412-624-2121.