UK employee who broke into 860 dorm suites over winter break has been fired, charged.
A University of Kentucky housing employee has been fired after they broke into approximately 860 residence hall suites and stole items left behind by students over the winter break, the university said Wednesday.
Kristian Lowe, a contracted employee with Greystar, was fired and criminally charged with burglary, trespassing and possession of a deadly weapon (brass knuckles, according to police), and was arraigned in Fayette County Court on Tuesday, according to a police report. An investigation by the UK Police Department is ongoing.
Multiple UK students reported cash and electronics missing when they returned to their dorms, according to the police report. One student reported a missing safe and damaged jewelry.
Camera footage from the dorms showed Lowe in multiple rooms on Dec. 29, pushing a cart. He “did not have a legal reason to be in that residence” based on his job assignments, according to the police report. He told police another employee had entered multiple rooms with him. Lowe had approximately $1,303 in his coat pockets when he was interviewed by police on Jan. 3.
UK said the break-ins affected about 1,650 students, and the university is “working to ensure appropriate remuneration as quickly as possible for any items stolen.” Impacted students have been sent directions on how to fill out a form for any items that have been stolen.
It is believed mostly small amounts of money were stolen from the dorms.
The employee accessed the dorms using a swipe card, saying they were performing routine maintenance, UK said in a statement. The security technology in the dorms, which requires people to use a swipe card to enter the buildings and suites, alerted housing staff of the employee who had accessed the rooms.
“First and foremost, we are here to support our students, their safety and their security,” said UKPD Chief Joe Monroe. “The technology now in place in new, high-tech residence halls allowed us to detect unwarranted activity much more quickly than we would have been able to do in older halls that depended upon locks and keys for entry and access.”
The residence halls impacted were Blazer Hall, Boyd Hall, Holmes Hall and Jewell Hall. Students who were impacted directly have been contacted by the university. If a students has not received an email from the university, it means their suite was not impacted.
“Moving forward, the university will investigate processes and policies and make improvements where necessary,” UK said in a statement.
Reporter Jeremy Chisenhall contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 1:30 PM.