Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Police arrest suspect for South Oakland burglary

 A man police say entered the South Oakland home of one Point Park University student then took property from another student’s home was charged Monday night while already in jail on unrelated charges.            Detectives say Kymarr Freeman, 20, allegedly entered the Ophelia Street homes of Cray “CJ” Thomas and Lindsay Dill on Sept. 13. He is being charged with two counts of burglary. Dill, a junior global cultural studies major and news editor for The Globe, said she was sitting in her living room doing homework just after midnight when Freeman opened the door and walked inside.”I looked up and there was this big black guy standing there, his hands in his pockets,” she said.  “I was just like, ‘Oh my God’, and I just tried to stay as calm as possible.”She said the first thing the man, later identified as Freeman by Dill, did was ask her if ‘Jamal’ was there.            “I just looked at him shaking my head. I have no idea who he was talking about,” she said.            Freeman then asked about marijuana before telling Dill not to tell anyone what happened. Then he left. Dill did not call the police, and at around 1:30 a.m., she said she got a call from her next door neighbor, one of the roommates who lives with Thomas.            According to Thomas, a junior sports, art and entertainment management major, someone came into his unlocked house while he was asleep and two of his other roommates were on the upper floors of the house. The perpetrator took a television from the living room before slipping out undetected.            “I was just in my bed asleep,” Thomas said. “And I was on the first floor, the living room is right next to my room.” However, he says he did not hear anything.When his roommates woke him up to tell him about the missing television, he thought they were joking.            “They were just dead serious. That’s when I just started to flip out, like I can’t believe this happened to us,” Thomas said.Detectives later confirmed that Freeman is their main suspect for the crime. He was identified after Dill picked him out in a photo array. Freeman was already in jail for other, related charges.There are not many details known about Freeman, and detectives say he has no permanent address listed in his record.What is clear, though, is that this is not the first time Freeman has found himself in trouble. According to Pennsylvania Web dockets, Freeman has faced numerous charges of theft by deception and at least one charge of assault in the recent past. He has not yet been convicted of these crimes, but will face court later this month on at least one of the charges, according to the dockets.              Other Point Park students living in South Oakland say they believe they have come into contact with Freeman on various occasions as well.Emily Westfield, a junior cinema major, lives on Lawn Street, about a block away from the alleged burglary. She said a man knocked on her door a few weeks ago and also asked her roommate if Jamal was there.”When we heard about the other robbery with the name Jamal used, we immediately remembered what happened with us,” Westfield said of her and her roommates in an e-mail interview.Westfield said that people living in four other houses in the area told her that they have been approached by a man seeking Jamal. Police were not called in those instances. But Detective John Mihalcin, who is working on the Freeman case, acknowledged that Freeman would ask for Jamal when approaching people’s residences.In addition to Freeman’s alleged crimes, Oakland has had “quite a few burglaries,” according to Mihalcin.He said incidents like the one supposedly involving Freeman are not uncommon.”Usually, [the potential burglar] knocks on the door to see if someone is there,” Mihalcin said. If someone answers, they “try to make it seem like it’s a mistake” by asking for a specific person.But other times, people fall victim just as Thomas did by unwillingly providing access to an unmonitored home.”It’s common for people to leave their doors unlocked in Oakland,” Mihalcin said.  He said that is because so many of the residents are college students with multiple roommates who leave the door unlocked for each other.Mihalcin encourages everyone, not just those living in Oakland, to keep their windows and doors locked at all times, particularly at night.            “There could be a potential tragedy,” he said.Freeman is scheduled to face a judge concerning these new charges on Sept. 30.

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