Oxford Crime Log: Thefts on the uptick with the annual return of Miami University students

BY MAGGIE CALLAGHAN

Miami University journalism student

Oxford police officers were busy through the week of August 21 as Miami University students made their pilgrimage back to town. So busy actually that the department's weekly report was 14 pages long.

“August and September are the busiest times for us,” said Oxford Lt. Lara Fening, who has been on the force for 21 years. “It’s nicer outside, more people are in town and they know students are coming back.”

While many of the crimes were typical of a college town, there continues to be a string of thefts and robberies that spiked over the summer.

Suspect steals $100 from Kroger

Police arrested Nathaniel Kacey Thomas, 29, September 8 in connection with a robbery at the local Kroger on August 23. Thomas is charged with stealing around $110 worth of merchandise, from the store at 300 Locust Road.

‘We’ve known this guy since he was a teenage,” said Fening.

Police also arrested Kayla Nipper, 20 in the robbery. Store security video footage captured a man and a woman entering the store together when the woman appears to take some plastic bags from the self checkout area. When she was told she could not do that, she attempted to distract employees while the man continued to put items in his cart. She left the store and then re-entered to meet the man. The man then attempted to take his cart out of the store and when he was confronted, he ran.

Nipper was held by employees until police arrived.

Many businesses have been impacted by the recent string of robberies and Kroger has been a popular target, Fenning said. Only a couple days earlier, police officers responded to a theft from the same location.

“We try help all that we can,” said Fening. “But we encourage Kroger to have their own system.”

Thomas is not a suspect in any other case, according to Fening. Kroger did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Thomas remains in the Butler County jail.

Thefts from Cars Continue

Officers responded to theft of phones from a car parked outside an apartment complex at 111 E Walnut Street August 24.

Dana Shunkwiler, 22, of Oxford, told police someone took a purple Blackberry phone, a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone and Apple Iphone from her Honda Accord.

“I came out to my car around noon and realized everything in my car was thrown around and it was a total mess,” said Shunkwiler. “But I actually didn’t realize anything was missing right away.”

It was not until later in that afternoon when she get a notification that one of her old phones had been activated and apps were being downloaded using her debit card.

Shunkwiler's car was unlocked at the time of the theft.

Fening, the police lieutenant, said there has been an unusually large spike in thefts from cars

“We often will have flurry of car thefts during a time period,” said Fening. “But this spike has been pretty sustained and all over the city...which is bizarre.”

Shunkwiler recently moved to Oxford to be with her boyfriend while he completes his studies at Miami University. She has always felt safe and comfortable in Oxford, but knew that car thefts were on the rise.

“I knew this was going on,” said Shunkwiler. “But my boyfriend, who grew up in Oxford, would always say ‘you don’t have to lock you car...it’s Oxford’. But the one time I don’t lock my car, this happens.”

No one has been arrested and none of Shunkwiler’s items have been recovered.

Suspect Arrested Waving Gun Uptown

A 20-year-old man was arrested in the Uptown park area on Aug. 27 and charged with waving a gun around.

Sammy King Sherood Jr. was charged with also being drunk with a gun.

A pedestrian flagged down police and told officers that a man was waving a gun in the park. Police arrived to find Sherood sitting on a bench outside Skyline Chili restaurant. According to police reports, Sherood continued to change his story, where he was from and why he was even in Oxford.

“These weren’t just little lies,” said Fening. “They were life altering details. I had no idea what I was dealing with.”

According to Sherood’s driver's license, he is originally from Florida but he told officers he was actually from Los Angeles and was on a vacation visiting friends.

“Who comes to Oxford for vacation?” said Fening.

Sherood remains jailed in Butler County.

Police Transport 18 Drunk Students to Hospital

Police took a drunk 19-year old Miami University student to McCullough-Hyde Hospital on August 25 after she was found in the alley behind a bar unable to stand in Uptown.

She was one of 18 students police took to the hospital that weekend for alcohol-related injuries, according to the police department's Facebook page.

Reports said the woman was behind Brick Street Bar and Grill at 1 a.m. An unidentified man was carrying her and told officer he was taking her to the hospital.

She was also in possession of a fake Kentucky driver’s license.

Fake IDs are probably the biggest problem we are facing,” said Fening.

Fening said overconsumption of alcohol and large parties has gotten worse in the city and the police are trying different approaches to see how to combat the annual problem.

“We are trying everything,” said Fening. “We are looking at how we attack the large parties and with the fake IDs we want a ‘full court press’ from the moment they try to get into the bars.”

But police can't address the issue alone, she said.

“I think [Miami’s] power lies in the discipline,” said Fening. “They have to stay steadfast in penalties and get them where it hurts. I think that makes a difference. When a penalty is looming, I think students will think about it and say ‘it’s not worth it.’”