A local pizza delivery driver was robbed at gunpoint yesterday evening by an unknown male assailant outside the Alpha Delta fraternity.
Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone said the crime may be the latest in a string of pizza delivery larcenies perpetrated around the Upper Valley in recent months.
Yesterday's crime occurred after C&A Pizza employee Jim Dupuis had made a delivery to the third floor of AD at 5:20 p.m. Dupuis told The Dartmouth he had seen "a random-looking person on the lawn at [Chi] Heorot [Fraternity]" before he entered AD.
When Dupuis exited the fraternity's back door, the man was standing in the alley between AD and Heorot. Dupuis said he had begun walking to his car when the robber accosted him and threatened him with a semi-automatic pistol.
After stealing an estimated $60, Dupuis said the robber fled in the direction of the East Wheelock cluster.
The robber pulled a bandanna over his head before the crime, Dupuis said, obscuring his face. However, he was described as "5'9 with a thin build and a shaved head, wearing grey sweatpants" in a press release from Hanover Police.
Dupuis expressed doubt that his assailant was an undergraduate at the College.
"He looked more like a local kid than a Dartmouth student," Dupuis said.
Multiple delivery drivers in the Upper Valley have been held up in similar incidents recently, Giaccone said.
In one such crime two weeks ago in West Lebanon, N.H., an armed man wearing a mask robbed an Everything But Anchovies delivery driver, according to a Lebanon Police press release and police sources. Another similar incident reportedly occurred earlier in Claremont, N.H.
Representatives of both AD and Heorot said no fraternity members witnessed the crime or noticed the perpetrator beforehand.
"We found out about it when Jim came inside to call the police afterwards," AD brother Kyle Smith '04 said.
Hanover police arrived quickly after the incident and used canine units to attempt to find the robber, Smith said.
Law enforcement officers had made no arrests as of last night, but Giaccone said Hanover police officers were "working on several leads."
Robbery is almost unheard of in the area around Dartmouth, police officials said.
"I don't recall the last time something like this happened in Hanover," Giaccone said.
Dupuis also emphasized his surprise at the circumstances of the crime.
"You just don't expect that here," Dupuis said. "It's pretty upsetting that someone with a gun is running around loose at Dartmouth."
Witnesses or anyone with information on the robbery is asked to contact Hanover police.
