Content Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault.
The Emory Wheel regularly meets with Emory Police Department (EPD) Records Manager Ed Shoemaker (87G, 90G) and Communications Director of Campus Safety Morieka Johnson (94C, 24L) and uses EPD’s public crime log to inform the Emory University community about recent crime on and around Emory’s campuses.
To report a crime, contact EPD at 404-727-6111 or police@emory.edu.
Aggravated sodomy at The Ridge
A student reported an incident of aggravated sodomy to the Emory Police Department (EPD) on Aug. 12 which had occurred on May 11.
A graduating student living at The Ridge, a new graduate and professional school housing development, met an acquaintance at a commencement ceremony on May 11. Following the event, the pair returned to the student’s room at The Ridge. Once in the student’s room, the perpetrator committed the act of sodomy against the student. Shoemaker explained that an aggravated act of sodomy means sodomy with force and against the will of the other person.
According to Shoemaker, the perpetrator is alleged to be an alumnus who had graduated the previous year, which is why the two parties knew one another. EPD will investigate further and determine possible avenues of prosecution.
Terroristic threats made to Budd Terrace
An unknown caller made a terroristic threat on an Aug. 13 call to the Parkside at Budd Terrace Nursing & Rehab Center, a rehabilitation facility on Emory’s campus that supports elderly patients.
The front desk receptionist received a phone call from a specific phone number, with the caller using profane language throughout the call. The caller said they were going to “pull up tomorrow and beat up whoever.”
Shoemaker said terroristic threats are different from mass acts of terrorism because, instead of a large act of violence against civilians or government, it is a threatened crime of violence against an individual.
The receptionist told EPD that it sounded like a male voice and that she did not believe the call was directed toward her personally, but possibly for somebody else who works at the front desk.
EPD searched the employee directory and found a name that matched the caller ID provided by the facility. The employee in question was not on duty at the time the report was made. The receptionist claimed not to have any knowledge about what might have caused the employee to make that call.
EPD recommended that the receptionist take measures to ensure her safety and made arrangements to contact the other employee alleged to be associated with the situation.
Theft by taking at Atwood Chemistry Building
A complainant claimed that her MacBook was stolen at the Atwood Chemistry Building on Aug. 15.
The complainant last saw her MacBook on the desk in her office, around noon that day. She said she left the office between noon and 12:30 p.m. to go to lunch. When she returned to the office at about 1:30 p.m., she noticed that the MacBook was missing.
The complainant’s office is adjacent to a research lab that several people share. The colleagues who shared the lab were all present at lunch with the complainant, so no one in the lab was present to see what had occurred.
The complainant does not believe that anyone would have reason to target her belongings specifically. She believes that the theft was random, as someone may have seen her unoccupied office and objects that they could easily steal.
The building has a loading dock that is not routinely card accessible or locked which people can easily enter and go upstairs into the lab and office area.
According to Shoemaker, the MacBook is valued at $3,000. It has a “GO BLUE” University of Michigan sticker on the laptop. EPD will continue to investigate the theft.
Johnson urged the Emory community to avoid allowing unknown people into a building, as well as to keep an eye on personal items, especially during the early days of the semester.
If you or someone you know experienced sexual assault, you can access Emory’s Title IX resources at 404-727-0541 orhttps://equityandcompliance.emory.edu/title-ix/index.html and the Office of Respect at https://respect.emory.edu/ or its hotline 24/7 at 404-727-1514. You can reach the RAINN National Sexual Assault hotline 24/7 at (800) 656-4673 or https://hotline.rainn.org/onli.... You can reach the Atlanta Grady Rape Crisis Center crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 616-4861 or gradyrapecrisiscenter@gmh.edu and the Decatur Day League Sexual Assault Care and Prevention crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 377-1428.
