Student Arrested in Sixth College for Stealing $2,000 Worth of Women's Laundry

A UC San Diego student was arrested for stealing women’s laundry items worth approximately $2,000 last Friday.

UCSD police apprehended the student, identified as first year David Chou, and charged him with burglary, grand theft, and receiving known stolen property.

According to Mandy Huang, a Sixth College resident, a sign was posted in the Sixth College residential hall laundry rooms a few weeks ago, warning students that someone was stealing underwear and urging them to monitor their clothes to prevent further theft. The phenomenon continued for a couple weeks, and a second sign was posted in the laundry rooms with the same message.

Another student, who asked to remain anonymous, reported missing items of 10 to 14 pairs of underwear and one shirt, all taken from one load. The student said that she reported the incident to her resident advisor, who then referred her to the campus police. The police told the student that they could not do anything about the incident and instead warned her to monitor her laundry and to “bring a friend when doing laundry to be safe.”

The student later posted about the incident on social media, where she said Chou commented joking remarks on the post.

Then, on October 27, another female student witnessed Chou walk across the Sixth College quad carrying her laundry items and followed him to his dorm. Chou refused to open the door upon request, so the female student said that she called the police. According to the student, officers found a box containing 192 pairs of underwear and later found two more similar boxes. Police arrested Chou at 3:30 p.m.

Following Chou’s arrest, police confiscated the stolen laundry items. For owners of the laundry items wishing to claim their articles of clothing, police warned students against wearing them again, as Chou admitted to wearing the items.

As of November 1, many of the items have yet to be returned to the original owners; UCSD police began accepting claims for them this week.

Anabel King is a staff writer at The Triton.

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View Comments

CupaJava says:

November 2, 2017 at 9:20 pm

Interesting article...Seems like this type of theft isn't an isolated case. There was one that happened at Notre Dame earlier this year. As to the thief who pilfered the undergarments, what is he going to do with all the britches??? I guess it remains to be seen!