A Penn State student was charged yesterday for allegedly conspiring with two other students to rob a dozen rooms in his own residence hall in early October, netting $7,369 in stolen cash and goods from Stuart Hall.
Police say Camron Carra (freshman-communications), Brendan Cheesebrough and Kevin Guizzetti entered 12 Stuart Hall dorm rooms during the early morning hours of Oct. 7 and stole electronics, cash and personal items. According to the criminal complaint, the burglary plan came after a night of drinking Vladimir vodka, smoking marijuana and snorting Adderall.
Police expect Cheesebrough and Guizzetti to be charged within a week, Penn State Police Officer Jason Zajac said.
Carra, 19, was charged with felony counts of criminal conspiracy, burglary and criminal trespass, as well as theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.
By conducting interviews with Stuart Hall residents, university police followed up on multiple reports of items, including laptops, iPods and wallets, stolen between Oct. 6 and Oct. 7.
During one such interview in Carra's second-floor Stuart Hall residence, police detected the odor of marijuana, according to the complaint. A search warrant led to the confiscation of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, for which Carra also faces charges.
Carra confirmed that he had been hanging out with Cheesebrough and Guizzetti the night of the thefts, but said he knew nothing of the burglaries, according to court documents.
Police later confronted Guizzetti, who was "shaking and clearly nervous," in his third-floor Stuart Hall residence. Guizzetti said he wanted to speak to an attorney after officers posed specific questions about the burglaries, the complaint reads.
Officers then went to Holmes Hall, where police say Cheesebrough acknowledged his presence in Carra's room on the night of the burglaries, but also denied any involvement in the crimes.
During the course of this interview, officers again observed drug paraphernalia in plain sight and obtained a search warrant. According to court documents, a heavy backpack discovered beneath Cheesebrough's bed was found to contain many of the goods reported stolen.
Guizzetti was the first to admit guilt, approaching police two days later with an attorney by his side. According to the complaint, Guizzetti told officers the three friends had come up with the idea of stealing items from dorm rooms while intoxicated earlier in the morning of Oct. 7, but could not remember who first proposed the idea.
The friends devised the plan "as a team," Guizzetti told police.
Carra's job, he told police, was to stay in his dorm room and "appraise" the items as they came in. Cheesebrough was the "look out," according to the complaint, standing guard while Guizzetti searched the rooms for valuables. After the burglaries, Guizzetti said they divided the stolen cash three ways. Each student came out with about $150 each, police reported.
Last Thursday, Todd J. Barnhart, 19, of Hollidaysburg, was arrested on multiple charges of receiving stolen property in connection to the burglaries, said Tyrone Parham, university police assistant director. Guizzetti told police that Carra, as the "appraiser," was calling an unidentified actor to come and get the stolen items.
Statements made to police by both Cheesebrough and Carra corroborate the major points of Guizzetti's account.
Cheesebrough told police the burglaries seemed like a good idea at the time, the complaint reads.
