Two allegedly intoxicated male intruders found their way into the apartments of female College students, in unrelated incidents in the past two weeks, raising questions of safety in the Hanover community.
A 33-year-old Hanover resident was allegedly discovered in the bedroom doorway of a female member of the Class of 1999 as she slept in her off-campus apartment on Lebanon Street at 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2.
The next night, a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team who was in Hanover visiting a student at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, was allegedly discovered in the bedroom doorway of Carolyn Wang '99 as she slept in her Channing Cox apartment at 2:30 a.m.
The major league pitcher, 26-year-old Michael Welch of Nashua, who appeared in 10 games for the Phillies this season, was standing in Wang's doorway when her roommate, Karen Ho '99, returned home, according to Ho.
According to Julie Tallmann '99, who shares the Channing Cox apartment with Ho, Wang and another senior woman, the door to the apartment was left unlocked accidentally that night.
Safety and Security Officer Lauren Cummings said it is likely Welch became separated from the friend he was visiting and wandered into the apartment while searching for his friend.
Ho said she thought Welch was intoxicated by his response when she first saw him and began yelling at him to leave the apartment.
"I started shouting at him, 'What are you doing here? Who are you?'" Ho said. "He just kind of mumbled."
Welch was "pretty drunk," and became agitated when the women asked him to leave the apartment, Tallmann said.
"He didn't think there was anything wrong with being in our apartment," Tallmann said. "He didn't seem to even know what he was doing."
While Wang and Ho tried to convince Welch to leave the apartment, the boyfriend of one of the women awoke and engaged in a physical struggle with Welch, according to Tallmann. The women called Safety and Security while the boyfriend pushed Welch out of the apartment and restrained him until Safety and Security officers arrived.
Hanover Police officers arrived a few minutes later, according to Chief Nicholas Giaconne, who said Welch did not resist police officers' attempts to take him into custody.
Giaconne said police have "no indication if [Welch] was there on a mission to commit another crime" other than criminal trespassing, for which he was charged. Welch is scheduled to be arraigned on November 10th.
Welch could not be reached for comment last night.
Cummings said he is "firmly convinced" that Welch did not intend to cause any of the residents harm.
"The poor guy was just a little confused, but as it turned out he was a little stubborn as well," Cummings said. "And that's how he got himself in trouble."
While none of the residents of the Channing Cox apartment had met Welch prior to the night of the incident, Mark Laskowski who allegedly entered the apartment on Lebanon Street was known to the six senior women who lived there -- he had previously been hired to lay carpet in the apartment.
The door to the apartment was left unlocked on the night the man entered the apartment, according to one resident.
The resident said she was downstairs at 10:30 p.m. when she heard her roommate scream upon awaking to discover the man standing in the doorway of her room. The man was intoxicated, according to the resident, and left immediately when the residents asked him to.
"He never came at [my roommate]," the resident said. "I don't think he had bad intentions. He was just a stupid drunk and didn't know where to draw the line between business and friendship."
Even though the intruder had already left the apartment, the resident said they decided to call the Hanover Police, "just to be safe."
Giaconne said officers found the man leaning against a light pole, obviously intoxicated, when they arrived outside of the apartment. Officers then discovered the existence of a bench warrant for Laskowski's arrest, for failing to pay fines from a previous arrest for Driving While Intoxicated.
Laskowski was not charged with trespassing, Giaconne said, but was arrested on the outstanding warrant. Giaconne said he is not sure what Laskowski's intentions were when he entered the apartment that night.
"He's a guy that had been there before, laying carpet and he knew there were females who lived there" Giaconne said. "Anything else is speculation."
Laskowski could not be reached for comment last night.
