Campus police arrested a man Tuesday who allegedly had been taking items from lockers in Hansen Stadium.
Dixie State University officer Eldon Gibb arrested Richard John Fitzgerald, 29, following a weeks-long investigation.
Jason Boothe, director of DSU athletics, said he couldn’t comment on what was taken or from whom it was stolen, but he did say the alleged culprit was caught after the department set up a hidden camera.
“We put a camera in and caught the guy,” he said. “It wasn’t somebody on the team, and we’re very grateful for that.”
According to a probable cause statement filed by officers, DSU head football coach Scott Brumfield told police that players’ money and belongings had been stolen from the lockers during football practice.
Fitzgerald was detained by Brumfield at approximately 6:45 a.m. after he was seen “rummaging in and through the lockers,” according to the statement.
“I found Mr. Fitzgerald had burglarized this same locker room three previous times since the first of the semester (Aug. 19) to support his drug habit,” Gibb wrote in the statement.
According to the statement, Fitzgerald had no cash or stolen items on him at the time of arrest, but the officer did find a piece of tinfoil that “…was going to be used to smoke an oxycotin [sic].”
Fitzgerald was arrested and charged with one count of theft between $500 and $1,500, a class A misdemeanor; two counts of theft under $500, class B misdemeanors; four counts of burglary of a non-dwelling, class 3 felonies; and one count of possession of paraphernalia, a class A misdemeanor.
