Don’t shoot the messenger

An employee at the Bursar’s Office was threatened by a UA student’s father after his daughter was denied registration for the fall semester because she owed over $50,000 to the university.

The employee spoke with the father and said he was extremely angry because of his daughter’s registration denial. The employee told a University of Arizona Police Department officer that the father said, “What do I need to do? Bring a gun down there?”

The employee said she didn’t feel threatened or intimidated by the father’s comments. The employee then provided the officer with the father’s phone number.

Shortly after speaking with the employee, the officer called the father and asked if he said, “What do I need to do? Bring a gun down there?”

The man stated he did not say that to the employee. He told the officer on the phone that he had said to the employee, “We can’t do anything. We can’t pull a gun on anyone to make them do anything.”

He apologized repeatedly to the officer and stated that he intended for what he said to the employee to be a figure of speech. The father said he wouldn’t hurt anyone and didn’t mean for the things he said to come off as threatening.

Later in the day, the officer received a phone call from the father who said he left a voice message for the employee apologizing for what he had said.

Coffeehouse criminal

A man was advised that he was under arrest for shoplifting from the Starbucks at the UA Main Library and was later cited and released from the scene.

A UAPD officer responded to a call from a Starbucks employee about a theft that occurred earlier that day. The employee told the officer that he had seen the man on numerous occasions in that Starbucks store and was suspicious that he was stealing display items from the front counter.

On that particular day, the employee came to the front of the counter and stood behind the man. He told the officer that he saw the man take a granola bar and place it in his right pocket. The man bought a drink, but didn’t pay for the granola bar. The granola bar was valued at $2.50.

The employee said the man then left the Starbucks and entered the library. The officer asked the employee if Starbucks wanted to prosecute for the theft, but the employee said he would need to talk to the manager first. The officer also asked if video surveillance was available and was directed to the UA director of library facilities.

The officer went to the library to talk to the suspect, where another UAPD officer was already with him. The man told the officers he was in Starbucks earlier to buy a drink and then went to the library to use a computer.

Later on in the day, the video footage was available and the officer watched it. The footage showed the man at the Starbucks counter pocketing the granola bar without paying for it. After watching the footage, Starbucks contacted UAPD and said that the man came back. Two officers went to the Starbucks and were directed to the library, where the man went.

Starbucks told the officer they wanted to prosecute the man for the theft, so the officer read the man his Miranda rights.

The man said, “I stay silent!”

The officer advised the man he was under arrest for shoplifting and was then cited and released from the scene.