Content Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault.
The Emory Wheel meets with Emory Police Department (EPD) Records Manager Ed Shoemaker (87G, 90G) and EPD Captain and Chief of Staff Laura Vaughn and uses EPD’s public Crime Log to inform the Emory University community about recent crime on and around Emory University’s campuses. To report a crime, contact EPD at 404-727-6111 or police@emory.edu.
Theft by extortion
EPD received a complaint on Sept. 10 from a male student living in Clairmont Tower on the Clairmont Campus. The student said he received a follower request on Instagram from someone he did not know. The person then began contacting the student on Snapchat after messaging him on Instagram. On Snapchat, the unknown party, who the victim reported was a woman, sent him three sexually explicit photos. The student then sent back sexually explicit photos, which the unknown party screenshotted.
The unknown party threatened to send the photos to the student’s friends and family if he did not send them $1,000. The student sent $500 but the unknown party demanded the other $500. The student then blocked the user and reported the case to EPD.
“We really would caution people about jumping into conversations like this with strangers on social media because it’s too easy to get burned one way or the other,” Shoemaker said. “Either you’re out the money, or you’re out the privacy or possibly you’re out both. We, the police department, do not think that … the episodes we learn about are the only episodes to take place.”
Courtesy of Emory University
Terroristic threats
A Winship Cancer Institute employee reported on Sept. 5 that she had received three anonymous handwritten letters making bodily threats earlier that day. She also received a letter of the same nature for the first time on Aug. 31.
The letters, which were addressed to the Emory Winship Cancer Institute rather than a specific individual, but raised concern among staff members that the writer may attempt to visit the instituteclinic, Shoemaker explained.
“The letters are saying things like ‘I will sue you. You will never work at the hospital again,’” Shoemaker said. “One of the letters indicated that the writer wanted to cut open a doctor and perform surgery on the doctor the way the doctor has supposedly performed surgery on the letter writer.”
Shoemaker also said the author requested financial compensation in the letters, but the writer did not specify why or how much they wanted to be compensated.
The letters had “distinct” childlike handwriting and spelling mistakes, making it likely that the letters are from the same person, Shoemaker added. While the identity of the person cannot be confirmed, EPD suspects that it is a former or current Winship Cancer Institute patient.
EPD is currently investigating the case.
Burglary, first degree, non-forcible entry
A member of 17 Eagle Row, home of Kappa Sigma fraternity, reported on Sept. 11 that $800 of packages that had been delivered to the house over the summer break went missing.The packages included surround sound speakers, kitchenware and AstroTurf for the house’s upper deck.
This is the second reported summer burglary from a fraternity house. A member of Kappa Alpha Order, located at 14 Eagle Row, reported that their 1976 composite portrait was stolenwashad been stolen over the summer.
Shoemaker explained that people living on campus over the summer use the fraternity houses, complicating the case.
“It’s kind of hard to pin down who was there and who should have been there and who shouldn’t have been there, but we have that under investigation as well,” Shoemaker said.
If you or someone you know experienced sexual assault, you can access Emory’s Title IX resources at https://equityandcompliance.emory.edu/title-ix/index.html and the Office of Respect at https://respect.emory.edu/ or their hotline 24/7 at (470) 270-5360. You can reach the RAINN National Sexual Assault hotline 24/7 at (800) 656-4673 or https://hotline.rainn.org/online. 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.
Spencer Friedland (26C) is from Long Island, New York and is the Emory Wheel's Managing News Editor. He is a Philosophy, Politics and Law major and has a secondary major in Film. Spencer is also a part of the Franklin Fellows program at Emory.
