Student robbed in frat bedroom

An unidentified man entered the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house at 3900 Spruce Street yesterday morning and held up College sophomore Timothy Poulton in his bedroom. The man fled when University and Philadelphia Police arrived on the scene. Poulton escaped unhurt. At approximately 6:50 a.m., Poulton, a brother, returned to the Beta Theta Pi house and found a man sitting in his room. "There was a guy sitting in my roommate's chair," Poulton said. "I wasn't able to get out of my room. He said, 'Sit down. I'm not going to hurt you.' I wanted to just run but I had nowhere to run. I sat down as close to the door as I could." Poulton said the man did not immediately produce any weapons when he entered his room, adding that he could not tell if he had any. According to Poulton, the man was alternately agitated and calm. "It made me think this guy is on something," he said. "I wondered if he was a little mentally messed up." The man then spoke to Poulton for several minutes. "He said he was in debt," Poulton said. "He made me close the door, and made reference to people that were after him." Poulton said the man asked him for food. After he ate, the man asked Poulton for money, but considered taking property instead when Poulton showed him his nearly empty wallet. "He started going through my roommate's stuff," said Poulton. "He found a portable CD player, and tried to take it. I said that he couldn't take it. That was when he put his hand to [his jacket] pocket [where] it looked like he had a gun." Poulton said the man asked him for other items that he could take and sell, but rejected everything Poulton offered. According to Poulton, the man then considered taking him hostage. "At that point I decided that I would have to get out of there pretty quickly," he said. "I darted, locked myself in a [brother's] room, and called 911 and Penn Police." Poulton praised University Police for being at his door before he got off the phone with them. Despite this, the man escaped with a compact disc player, valued between $250 and $300. No arrests have been made yet, according to University Police Sergeant Keith Christian. Christian called the incident "isolated." Neither the police nor fraternity members were able to determine how the individual entered the house. "It could have been an open window, and fraternity houses occasionally leave their doors open," said Christian. Poulton said he is not aware of any other witnesses to the incident. Beta Theta Pi is planning on upgrading security in their house. Changes will include adding bars to the windows and replacing older doors, according to Poulton.

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