Earlier this month, Campus Police discovered that a Duke Hospital patient claiming to be a Greensboro police officer was lying, and the department charged him with impersonating an officer, said Maj. Robert Dean of the Duke University Police Department.
At 6 p.m. Aug. 18, the man went to the Hospital's Emergency Department complaining of back pain. He carried a Greensboro police badge and handcuffs and had a belt around his waist with a holster; he claimed to be Officer David Duncan. When DUPD officials called Greensboro police to arrange for his transportation, officials there denied having an officer by that name.
Police then found a CB radio, police scanner, handcuff keys, camouflage binoculars, a parking sticker from the Department of Defense and other police paraphernalia in the man's 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis. They also found his Glock model .22-caliber handgun with a filed-off serial number and other police equipment they think he stole from the Arrington Police Distributor in Charlotte.
After making these discoveries, officers charged the man-33-year-old Thomas Manning Hook of 190 SouthOak Dr. in Winston Salem, N.C.- with impersonating an officer, carrying a weapon on campus, resisting, delaying and obstructing an officer, possession of stolen goods and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Hook has been charged with impersonating an officer in Forsyth County, N.C. in 1997; the charges were dismissed. He was also convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon and of obtaining property by false pretenses in Brunswick earlier this year.
He has been placed under a $250,000 secured bond and has a court date set for Sept. 7.
Electronics taken: More than $3,000 in electronic equipment was stolen from Duke Clinic's purple zone between 8 p.m. Aug. 11 and 8 a.m. Aug. 14, Dean said.
Someone took one $800 Dell Lattitude LM laptop computer, serial number 8w8L7; one $800 Epson laptop computer, serial number 79n1011287; and one $1,000 Sharp laptop computer from room 3410. A $900 Hitachi video camera-model number VM-H39-was stolen from room 3416.
The victims told police that both rooms were believed to be locked at around 8 p.m. Aug. 11, but that they found the doors unlocked at around 8 a.m. Aug. 14. There was no sign of forced entry.
Computer stolen: Between Aug. 4 and Aug. 7 someone stole a $1,400 Micron Millennia Microtowers 450 CPU, serial number 1811877-0001, from the Old Chemistry building's graduate student cubicles located near 116B-L. This area is unsecured during normal business hours, Dean said.
Cash taken: Between 4:45 and 7:45 p.m. Aug. 8 someone stole $93 cash from an employee's office located on the second floor of the Fuqua School of Business, Dean said. There was no sign of forced entry.
Change-thief arrested: At 12:58 a.m. Aug. 14, a DUPD officer observed a man taking $12.07 in loose change from the Duke North lobby fountain, Dean said.
After approaching and questioning the man, the officer arrested the man, 49-year-old Johnny Burkett, and charged him with possession of drug paraphernalia and carrying a concealed razor blade.
Since his arrest, Burkett has been placed under a $600 secured bond and his court date has been set for Sept. 13.
Cars damaged: Between 2 p.m. Aug. 21 and 6:45 a.m. Aug. 22 someone entered a student's unsecured Plymouth van and caused about $200 worth of damage while attempting to steal the car, which was parked between Gilbert-Addoms and Blackwell dormitories, Dean said. The perpetrator stole a $20 blue CD case and 12 CDs valued at $200. The CD case had "MARR" written on it.
Police received a call at 6:45 a.m. Aug. 22 from a student reporting that someone broke into a Cherokee Jeep also parked in the lot between the two dorms. Police contacted the car's owner when it was discovered that $100 of damage had been done to the left rear window. Also, a $50 CD case, 73 CDs valued at $200, a $50 olive green bookbag and four textbooks were taken. Dean said the perpetrator apparently tried to steal the vehicle because the owner's spare key, which he left in the center compartment, was found in the ignition.
Dean said the two crimes may be related.
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