When students living in an off-campus house received an email saying that they were using too much water, they didn’t anticipate finding themselves at the center of a string of breaking-and-entering incidents. Upon finding out that this increase was due to a leak, Mosaic Student Communities — who own the property on the 2600 block of Orchard Avenue — said that they would send a maintenance worker to their house. When a man dressed as a worker later arrived, students didn’t question it — that was until vulgar notes had been left, tampons were rifled through and a resident was locked in a bathroom with the imposter.
Last week, the USC community received several safety advisory emails from the USC Department of Public Safety (DPS) regarding a string of break-ins at off-campus student residences. DPS confirmed two reports of an individual posing as a representative of a building management company, there to allegedly fix water-related issues on Thursday.
This encounter was not the only one that the suspect had with USC students. According to DPS Assistant Chief David Carlisle, after the initial advisory was sent, DPS received five more reports of the suspect requesting to enter homes, all occurring on Thursday.
“They occurred between approximately 2:00 in the afternoon and 8:30 in the evening last Thursday. We’re hoping that if he does return, someone will call us, alert us, or our officers will see him, and we’ll detain him and find out what the real story is,” Carlisle said. “We patrol that neighborhood with our closed-circuit television cameras. We have over 300 surveillance cameras on active patrol, being live, monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and really focused on that neighborhood.”
The resident of an Orchard Avenue building, who spoke to Annenberg Media on the condition of anonymity due to fears of violent retribution by the suspect, described the experience as deeply alarming.
“He knocked on the door as I was leaving, so I just ran into him on my way out, and he said, ‘Hi, I’m with Mosaic, and I’m here to fix the water leak.’” The resident let him in, believing he worked for Mosaic.
“Everything lined up in terms of exactly what we had been told by our landlord,” the resident said. “I didn’t think anything of it; I noticed he didn’t have the Mosaic polo, but not all of the maintenance workers always do…So, I was like, ‘Sure, welcome to my lovely home.’”
The resident said that later that day, another maintenance worker arrived, which the resident said “wasn’t weird in and of itself.” However, the residents opted to contact Mosaic after the “creepy” interaction, and Mosaic confirmed with the resident that the first individual did not work for Mosaic and that only one maintenance worker was scheduled to service their residence that day.
“My interaction with him was the chillest because I’m the only man living in the house, so he didn’t really bother me,” the resident said. “One thing he did a lot was just walk around and turn on and off our water to keep up the maintenance man pretense.”
However, he escalated his “service visit” to become increasingly inappropriate and sexual.
“He flirted pretty heavily with one of my suitemates,” the source said. “He entered people’s bedrooms without knocking, just barging in. He asked us where our breaker box was, and asked which of our locks were broken, which was terrifying in retrospect. He entered a bathroom with one of my suitemates already in it and closed the door behind him, effectively trapping them in the bathroom together. He left a sticky note in one of my suitemate’s rooms.”
The sticky note in question, which was left in the bedroom of a female resident, contained a crude and sexually aggressive message that was interpreted as threatening rape.
The resident specified that while the suspect did not physically touch anybody, nor did he steal any belongings from the residence, he rifled through feminine hygiene products and asked female residents inappropriate questions about their sexual and romantic relationships.
According to Carlisle, DPS used Ring camera footage to compile images of the suspect, and the Los Angeles Police Department is working to identify the suspect. Carlisle has encouraged students to remain aware of their surroundings and the strangers whom they welcome into their homes, as well as provided advice for students to protect their housing.
“Number one, lock your doors. Number two, never let a stranger inside. In this scenario, they should be in a full maintenance uniform. They should have your name,” Carlisle said. “Have the Live Safe mobile safety application. Download it on your phone. So if it is an emergency, with a push of a button, you can call DPS and get help…Be aware of your surroundings. Trust your gut if your instincts say this doesn’t seem right; treat it as it isn’t.”
If you have any information about the suspect or his whereabouts, or if you experience a similar encounter involving an inappropriate or fraudulent individual entering your home, please contact DPS at the University Park Campus at (213) 740-4321, for the Health and Sciences Campus, call (323) 442-1000, or call 911 for the Los Angeles Police Department.