UK reviewing dorm access after employee entered, stole from rooms over winter break
The University of Kentucky housing employee who allegedly burglarized hundreds of dorms over winter break still managed to gain access to rooms even after UK turned off his key card, a UK police officer testified in court Thursday.
Kristian Lowe, a 28-year-old former contract employee with Greystar who worked in UK’s residence halls, was given access by another housing employee to dorm rooms on three floors of Holmes Hall after his access badge was turned off because of the investigation into his alleged thefts, according to Stevie Wood, a UK police officer. Lowe was fired after the burglary allegations were revealed.
Lowe performed routine maintenance at the residence halls and was supposed to change air filters in the dorms at the time of the alleged burglaries, Wood said. He was given access to all the rooms on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of Holmes Hall by another employee with a key card, Wood said.
The other employee has been fired, UK spokesman Jay Blanton confirmed.
In addition to getting into common areas inside residence hall suites, Lowe also had a key which granted him access to students’ individual bedrooms, Wood said.
The other employee was questioned by police but was released without facing any charges after officers spoke with him. They didn’t have any evidence that he took any students’ belongings.
“When we spoke with him, he had no clue why we were talking to him,” Wood said of the second employee.
UK initially indicated that 860 dorms could have been burglarized in this case. But UK police have 253 counts of Lowe “entering rooms that he had no reason to be in,” Wood said during a preliminary hearing in Lowe’s court case Thursday.
Only “a handful” of police reports have been filed by students in the case, Wood said. But in an email to students who were potentially affected by the burglaries, UK provided another way to report missing items. Wood said the UK Police Department was still working to catch up with the administrative side and gather information on those additional reports.
Police only have evidence of safes and money being stolen, not additional valuables, Wood said Thursday. It appeared as though Lowe removed items from students’ safes but then left those items in the rooms while taking the safes, Wood said. Lowe told police he “does not take personal items like jewelry and things,” Wood said.
Police found $2,162 in Lowe’s jacket pockets after speaking with him about the investigation, Wood said. Lowe said $796 of that money was his personal money. Among that $2,162 was $62 in quarters. Lowe said that came from one room in Holmes Hall.
Lowe and his wife seemed to be discussing evidence of the thefts during jail phone calls, which investigators reviewed.
“They talked about flushing stuff and moving money – or moving items out of the closet,” Wood said. Lowe had told police that he stashed some of the stolen money in a closet at his home, Wood testified.
Wood also indicated that Lowe and his wife discussed a “storage building” during a jail call. Police haven’t investigated the storage building further, he said.
UK police began investigating the case Dec. 18 and are still doing so, Wood said.
Lowe initially faced four charges: two counts of burglary, one count of criminal mischief and one count of having a weapon on school property. He faced the weapons charge after police found out he had brass knuckles.
Lowe’s attorney argued that Lowe wasn’t committing burglary if he had an access card and a key to get into students’ rooms. He said the charges should be theft. His attorney also argued that Kentucky’s law against having a weapon on school property only applies to elementary, middle and high schools, so that charge should be dismissed.
Fayette District Judge John L. Tackett dismissed the weapons charge after county prosecutors indicated they had no objection to dropping it. But Tackett disagreed with Lowe’s attorney regarding the burglary charges and sent the three remaining counts to a grand jury.
A grand jury will determine whether or not there is enough evidence against Lowe to indict him and send his case to Fayette Circuit Court.
Lowe was fired after UK learned of the thefts, officials said previously. UK previously said it was “working to ensure appropriate remuneration as quickly as possible for any items stolen.”
UK reviewing its practices for dorm room access
Lowe’s alleged actions have caused UK to re-examine who it provides dorm room access to and how that access is provided, Blanton said.
“We are reviewing all of our policies and processes – including how rooms are accessed and who has access – to see if adjustments need to be made to ensure we are creating the safest and most secure places possible for our students and our community,” he said.
Specifically, Blanton said the university is reviewing all housing policies and procedures with regard to who enters student rooms, checking card access logs for unusual utilization, reviewing key distribution polices, evaluating the feasibility of requiring two staff members to be present before a student’s room is entered and developing a notification process to let students know before a room is accessed by housing staff.
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 12:42 PM.