A subject related to an ongoing stalking investigation was spotted on lower campus at approximately 5 p.m. Nov. 10, according to an email sent in warning to the Occidental community by Chief of Campus Safety Victor Clay.
The subject appears to be fixated on a specific student to whom he has written letters and given gifts, according to Clay. He has been on campus at least twice prior, interacting with the student, who called Campus Safety the second time.
Campus Safety arrived and told the subject to leave campus.
“He got a little bit of an attitude for about two seconds, and then I told him, I’m not going to play with you,” Clay said. “You need to leave this campus or we’re going to have you escorted out in a different way.”
Clay sent the email at 11:09 p.m. Nov. 10 to faculty, students, staff and administrators, but students did not receive the email. According to Chief Information Officer James Uhrich, it was blocked by the listserv system due to the attachment containing the subject’s California identification photo. The student listserv does not allow for attachments and has a message size limit of 500 kilobytes, Uhrich said.
“We regret that this particular warning did not go through,” Uhrich said via email. “Campus Safety and ITS will work together to review our protocols to prevent this from happening again.”
Clay, who did not realize until later that the email had bounced, will resend the email via the student announcement listserv, which allows for attachments up to 4 megabytes, Uhrich said.
The subject, last seen near Bell Field adjacent to Herrick Chapel, is described in the email as 5 feet 11 inches tall, 170 pounds and approximately 60 years old. He has been observed wearing a tan straw hat.
Clay urges students to immediately report any sighting of the subject to Campus Safety and to refrain from personally engaging with him.
“Just call us and we’ll come deal,” Clay said.
Campus Safety can be reached at (323) 359-2599.
Reporting contributed by Melina Devoney.
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