Ball State’s University Police Department arrested a man Friday on charges of theft and criminal trespassing after a repeated attempt to enter a Ball State on-campus building, according to a police report.
Dustin Smith, 37, was arrested Jan. 3 for trespassing inside Worthen Arena after Ball State Recreation staff members alerted UPD the suspect was inside the building. Surveillance footage showed him trying to open locked doors, the report states.
Smith had been verbally warned to stay off Ball State’s property in 2012 and 2015 for criminal activity committed with no contractual interest in the property. He was arrested in 2015 for violating his 2012 Ball State trespass order, along with theft.
Additionally, Smith is charged with a theft that took place in November 2019 when a victim reported her backpack containing a MacBook laptop had been stolen while she was at the Jo Ann Gora Recreation Facility. The MacBook was valued at $2,000.
The victim was teaching a class in a dance room and had taken attendance with her laptop. She placed the laptop in her backpack, set it near the doorway and within 20 minutes, noticed it was missing.
After the victim forwarded the MAC address of the laptop to UPD detectives, Ball State Information Technology was able to determine the time and place of the laptop connecting to Ball State’s wireless networks.
Detectives then cross-referenced surveillance video, which showed the suspect walking through portions of Worthen Arena’s complex and the hallways of Lewellen Aquatic Center. The video showed the suspect entering the building without a backpack and exiting the building with one at the same time and location provided by Ball State IT.
The report states Nov. 14, 2019, Smith knowingly and intentionally exerted unauthorized control over the victim’s backpack and its contents with intent to deprive the victim of its value or use.
That day and Jan. 3, it states the suspect knowingly and intentionally entered the real property of Ball State after having been denied entry through verbal communication by UPD in 2012 and 2015.
Smith’s bail is set at $10,000 surety or 10 percent cash.
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