Photo by Kendall Bulkiewicz | The Crow’s Nest
By Mahika Kukday
It’s been four months since residents of Pelican Apartments (RHO) at the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus were allowed back into their dormitory. The building was closed for over three weeks after suffering damages from Hurricane Milton, reopening in the week of Oct. 28.
And while several months have passed since students returned to stolen items, rearranged belongings and missing valuables, many questions still linger.
“I can’t even tell you how many times we’ve called housing and the University Police Department (UPD),” said Elly Fisher, mother of freshman biology major Henry Fisher who found $600 in cash was missing when he returned to his fifth-floor room on Oct. 29. He said it was picked out of a zippered pocket that was not in plain view. About $31, which was in the main compartment, was not taken.
Elly Fisher said housing told her in the end of February that her $600 check had been approved by the university and would reach her soon. As of publication, she has not yet been reimbursed.
After initially refusing to compensate students for the rent expended during the time they weren’t able to be in their rooms, a student-led petition contributed to a change of heart.
The university issued rent refunds, proportionate to the duration that each student was away from their room, to students’ university accounts early this semester.
But, for some students, the fate of their stolen items is still a mystery.
Elly and Henry Fisher were two of the 34 respondents in an independent survey conducted by The Crow’s Nest last October of people affected by RHO’s closure.
In his survey response, Henry Fisher said he had filed a report with UPD within an hour of noticing the money was missing.
In a copy of the report obtained by The Crow’s Nest, master police officer Jeffrey Blose wrote that the wallet couldn’t be searched for fingerprints because of its texture.
Blose’s note, made two hours after the incident was reported at 9:27 p.m., said that he didn’t feel confident that he would be able to identify the thief after checking “several different days on the cameras,” because “there were dozens of workers in the hallways, going in and out of rooms.”
UPD officers followed up with Henry Fisher twice after the initial report, the last time being on Nov. 14.
Jessica Starks, records supervisor at USF St. Petersburg’s PD, said the case is currently inactive.
Elly Fisher is just happy to have a reimbursement on the way and currently doesn’t want to pursue any action to catch the offender.
Also inactive is the case of graphic design junior Emma Gentile, who noticed immediately after reentering her seventh-floor room that her Apple Watch and its charger were missing. She added that some expensive bags were damaged, “along with everything in [her] room being rearranged.”
Gentile contacted housing four times in the following days to inquire about next steps.
In the last of those communications, they said they were “looking into” why Gentile’s belongings weren’t placed back properly, despite the workers allegedly taking photos to return the rooms to their original conditions.
On Nov. 6, Gentile filed a report with UPD. Gentile missed the follow-up call on Nov. 14, and on Nov. 16, the watch’s model and serial number was sent to USF Tampa dispatch for entry into the federal National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
According to the police report, Gentile told UPD that the watch was believed to be discharged and that she had no new information to report.
Gentile did not reply to The Crow’s Nest’s request for comment on the status of her case.
When asked specifically about how Fisher’s and Gentile’s cases were handled in terms of reimbursement, university spokesperson Matthew Cimitile said that housing had consistently been in touch with students regarding their complaints.
He added that the university was in the process of reimbursing “all students with valid reimbursable claims.”
Cotton Global Disaster Solutions was the company contracted to carry out the repairs in RHO, and has since been the target of several reports by residents of undue privacy invasions, thefts, damages and more.
Cimitile said that the only action taken against Cotton so far is that housing has “calculated the total cost of reimbursable items that were damaged and went missing,” and will be billing this amount to the company.
When asked what this amount was, Cimitile said “we don’t have any cost information readily available.”
Both Gentile and Fisher’s police reports noted that students were made aware of the campus resources available to them. According to Cimitile, this included being pointed to victim advocates, the Wellness Center’s counseling services and the Pelican Recovery Support Team.
This temporary team was set up to assist RHO residents with the stressful move back. They collected data about students’ reentry situation from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8.
Soon after, housing began contacting students individually to gather information and inquire about refunds. Several items were replaced or refunded since then, and reimbursements are still being completed.
