(Photo courtesy of Google Images)
By Philippe Boutros, Staff Writer -- boutros14@up.edu
A golf cart used by the Office of Residence Life was stolen last weekend, prompting Public Safety to alert Portland Police. The vehicle was located less than a mile from campus early Wednesday and returned to Residence Life. Public Safety is still investigating and has not named any suspects.
"It was stolen sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning from around Kenna," Mike Walsh, director of Residence Life said. "Some kind of golf cart shenanigans was going on."
Students allegedly commandeered two golf carts, but abandoned one on campus and drove off with the other one.
"We got an e-mail from a source saying that drunk students had driven it to Taco Bell," Harold Burke-Sivers, director of Public Safety, said."
The theft was reported to Public Safety on Monday. A day later, Walsh sent out a campus-wide e-mail, individually addressed to students.
"I received a tip from one (student), and I'm sure that Public Safety followed up on that," Walsh said. "Someone on Facebook was bragging about having stolen it."
A UP staffer spotted the cart early Wednesday.
"At around 3:10 a.m., one of the maintenance workers from Physical Plant reported seeing the cart on Willis and Portsmouth. We called the PPB, they met us there and one of our officers drove it back. We then notified Residence Life," Burke-Sivers said.
"Golf carts are pretty expensive, around $2,500. We probably would not have been able to afford another one," Walsh said.
Under Oregon criminal statutes, whoever took the golf cart could potentially be charged with theft in the first degree and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Both are Class C felonies, which could result in fines as well as prison time.
