By Claudia Luther
UCLA police have arrested a suspect in a burglary that took place in the room of a student in a campus residence hall.
Timothy Bell, 41, of Los Angeles, was arrested just after midnight on Thursday, May 10, and is being held at the Los Angeles downtown jail. He is expected to be arraigned Monday.
Bell is suspected in the May 6 theft of $20 from a room in the DeNeve complex's Fir residence hall. The money was stolen by a man who fled when a female student returning to the room came upon him at 4 a.m. The student's roommate was sleeping in the room at the time.
The arrest was made at 12:16 a.m. on May 10, when a UCLA community service officer observed Bell in a stairwell in another residence hall and called the UC Police Department. UCPD officers made the arrest. Community service officers work for the UCPD, patrolling the residence halls each night.
UCPD Lt. Mark Littlestone attributed the arrest to the cooperation between the UCPD and the campus's residence hall staff, who were on the alert on "The Hill" - as UCLA's residence hall complex on the west side of the campus is called - after the UCPD notified the staff that Bell was a suspect.
"Taking this suspect off the streets is a step in the right direction toward keeping our community safe," Littlestone said. "While Hill residents can sleep a little safer because of this arrest, we want them to continue to keep their doors locked and also pay attention, to prevent people from following them into the halls without card-key access."
UCPD Det. Andy Ikeda, who is handling the case, said that Bell is on parole for burglary; as a condition of his parole, Bell is ordered to stay away from college campuses.
Source: UC Los Angeles
