Updated: April 9, 2010

An unidentified man trailed a student into Hewitt Hall on April 4, throwing the residents into confusion.

The man, according to a Linfield College Community Public Safety & Security press release, was not a Linfield student. It is unknown why he was in Hewitt, but witnesses said he was banging on doors and trying to get into the study room at the end of the second-floor hallway.

Freshman Carley Lukes, a Hewitt resident, learned about the intruder when she returned from brunch at Dillin Hall. She discovered her hallmates in an uproar.

“They were freaking out,” she said. “They said a creepy guy with no shoes on was in the hall.”

Lukes said she went to the kitchen to warn her friends of the stranger, convincing one of them, freshman Amy Bumatai, to lock the door to her room on the third floor.

Bumatai said she left her keys inside the room, which forced her to retrieve them before she could lock the door. When she opened her door, she said she found the man sitting in her chair.

“I screamed really loud, and we went downstairs and called campo,” she said.

Bumatai said the man was unresponsive.

“I kicked in my door, like usual, and he didn’t even flinch,” she said. “He just sat there, staring at the wall. He didn’t even look at me.”

Robert Cepeda, director of LCCPS, released an incident notification the day of the intrusion.

He warned that students should be more alert to people “tailgating” — following students into buildings, a common practice among students at Linfield after they unlock the door with their ID cards.

Cepeda said that it’s common for students to allow “tailgaters” inside.

“You don’t even think about it when people follow you in,” freshman Amy Bassett said.

Freshman Alayna Marten said that the man told police that Anthony Hopkins let him in.

Bassett said that the man was laughing when he was taken away in an ambulance.

“It looked like he was on something,” Marten said.

The man was seen earlier April 4.

Freshman Nic Miles, sports reporter for the Review, said he saw him tailgate into Mahaffey Hall sometime in the
morning.

“He followed [a student] after she opened the door,” he said. “I saw him standing in the lounge. I went to my room to grab something,  and he disappeared.”

Miles said he did not know if the man actually left the building during the short time he was away from the lounge.

Sophomore Blair Schuar said he saw him outside Mahaffey and said he though it was odd though he took no action.

Schuar described him as “shifty” and said he did not look like a Linfield student.

The incident was resolved when LCCPS called the McMinnville police.

Joshua Ensler
News editor Joshua Ensler can be reached at [email protected]