A student turned himself in to the police after a suspicious activity was reported on Wednesday.
Photo Credit: Carly Phelps
A student, known to the Montclair State University community as “Chuck,” turned himself in to the University Police Department (UPD) on Wednesday after an incident occurring earlier in the day, one of a string of similar occurrences reported to the police, possibly all coming from this individual.
On the afternoon on Dec. 2, Chief of Police Paul Cell sent an community alert to all students, faculty and staff via email at 3:03 p.m., alerting Montclair State University students about suspicious activity that took place behind the Student Center earlier in the day.
According to Cell’s alert, a female student reported to University Police that a man had approached her at about 1:37 p.m., saying, “Hi, my name is Chuck and I think you’re cute,” while she was walking on the sidewalk. After the student told “Chuck” that she was not interested, he allegedly grabbed her wrist.
Cell’s email described the individual as a 5’9″ black man with a flat-top hairstyle and wearing a green zip-up jacket, according to the complainant’s description.
Shortly after the incident was reported and the community alert was sent out, members of the community identified the man to the University Police Department (UPD) and soon after, he turned himself in to headquarters. Following these events, Cell sent out a second email at 5:53 p.m., summarizing the course of events and verifying that the individual concerned is a student at Montclair State.
In this second email, Cell mentioned that this incident may not be an isolated occurrence, although the incident and any other connected ones are still under investigation. Cell wrote, “This incident and other similar incidents [the student] is alleged to be involved in are under review and charges are pending.”
Police have said that more information will be released when the investigation is complete, such as the student’s full name and more details about the prior incidents in which he was allegedly involved.
In response to this string of similar incidents, Lieutenant Kieran Barrett, spokesperson for UPD, urges students who are victims of this type of occurrence to report it to the police. “We would hope that any time a student is touched or grabbed in a manner that causes alarm, they would contact us.”
