Many students remain unaware of the midnight campus robbery that occurred last Wednesday, and Hanover Police chief Charlie Dennis said he has no plans to increase campus security, calling the robbery an isolated incident.
Nine students interviewed Monday night said that they had very little knowledge of the incident. Five of them had not heard of the attack at all.
On July 2, suspects Mark Ruppel, 26, and Troy Schwarz, 20, were arraigned in the Lebanon Circuit Court and face charges of robbery, second degree assault and falsifying physical evidence. These crimes are categorized as Class B felonies under New Hampshire Law and could incur jail sentences of up to seven years and a maximum fine of $2,000, Dennis said.
Ruppel and Schwarz are being held in Grafton County Jail on $20,000 bail and $10,000 bail, respectively. Both men have received no-trespass letters from the College.
Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, assailants attacked and robbed Hubert Clark III ’13 on the Green before fleeing into Hanover. Dartmouth Safety and Security responded to the assault, and Hanover Police later apprehended the suspects about .2 miles away from the Green.
Witnesses to the crime called Dartmouth Safety and Security, who were soon assisted by the Hanover Police. Master police officer Jeffrey Ballard, learning that the assailants were last seen near the Hanover Inn, detained the three suspects near Town Hall, pending further evidence, Dennis said.
Clark was loaded onto a stretcher at about 12:20 a.m. and taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center by ambulance, where he received treatment for non-fatal injuries. He was released the same day.
Dennis said Monday that motives are still unclear, but that the incident does not seem to be part of a trend and was not premeditated.
In the course of their investigation, Hanover Police charged two of the three men who had participated in the assault. They found Clark’s missing items in the possession of one of the suspects.
Dennis said that the amount of money taken and other details concerning the stolen property have not been made public at this time.
Such crimes on campus are rare, director for media relations Diana Lawrence said, noting three reported robberies in the past 11 years. The last robbery that occurred on campus was in 2010, according to the annual fire and safety report required by the Clery Act.
Hanover saw only one robbery in 2013, Dennis said. In June 2013, an armed man entered the Hanover CVS on South Main Street, forcing an employee to open two safes and then stealing prescription medicine.
Lawrence noted that in Wednesday’s assault, the police acted quickly to apprehend the suspects.
“We don’t believe that there is imminent danger or that there is any pattern here,” she said.
Students noted that incidents of this type are a rare occurrence. Matthew Barnes ’16 said he was not worried about future assaults, calling the attack an “isolated incident.”
“There is not a huge risk of being mugged on campus,” he said.
Other students said they were surprised by the apparent randomness of the crime. Lauren Martin ’16 said that this event is distinguished from other acts of violence on campus.
“One thing that is particularly frightening is that 12 a.m. is not an unusual time for students to walk home,” Martin said. “The fact that they attacked a guy rather a woman suggests that it wasn’t targeted and they could have done it to anyone. Obviously, bad things and violence happen, but this is a different kind of action.”
Bri Fontaine ’16 said that the incident was worrying because of the absence of Safe Ride services during the summer.
During the summer, Safety and Security no longer offers its Safe Ride program, through which students can request a ride at night, Safety and Security communications officer Jessica Gilbert said.
Students can instead call a campus hotline and have an officer walk them home through the Safety Escort service, she said. The Safe Ride program will resume this fall.
“It’s disconcerting and alarming that this happened in the middle of the Green, let alone Hanover,” Fontaine said. “I always feel safe walking across the Green at night, but after the incident, I’m not sure how I feel about it anymore.”
Programs similar to Safe Ride exist at Harvard University, Brown University and Columbia University. Brown’s program, called the onCall program, operates year-round, though the university enrolls fewer students in the summer than does Dartmouth.
Walker Sales ’16 said he thought committing the crime would not be worth the risk.
“It seems rather dumb to rob Dartmouth students because you involve the Hanover Police, Safety and Security and the College,” Sales said. “Plus, Dartmouth students rarely carry cash because they only need their IDs on campus.”
Dennis advised students to walk in groups of two or three and to be aware of their surroundings.
Clark did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Media relations officials at DHMC were not available for comment at press time.
Jessica Avitabile contributed reporting.
