CAMPUS BRIEFS: Friday, October 24, 1997

Scam artists get $2,000 from University student The women approached the student and told her they would split a wallet full of money they had found with her if she would give them some money "to show good faith," University Police said. The student went into the bank to withdraw the money and then gave all $2,000 to one of the women, who told her the wallet was in an office building and gave her a room number. But when the student went to get the money, there was no wallet. Yesterday's incident was the third fraud in the past week. In two separate incidents last weekend, students gave a total of $114 to con artists who pretended they were having car trouble. -- Ian Rosenblum Pizza deliveryman robbed at gunpoint A Varsity Pizza deliveryman was held up at gunpoint Tuesday night while dropping off a pizza at 41st and Ludlow streets. No one was injured during the incident, and University Police have not made any arrests. The robbers -- two men in their early 20s -- pointed an automatic handgun at the man's back and demanded his money and car, Penn police said. The two men then fled the scene in the deliveryman's 1989 Oldsmobile with $300 in cash. A similar incident occurred in the fall of 1996, when two gunmen with an automatic weapon robbed a Domino's pizza deliveryman at 38th and Sansom streets. -- Ian Rosenblum Driver threatens Law student with bat A Law student was threatened with a baseball bat by a man who argued with the student after a traffic altercation. The incident occurred at 9:35 a.m., when the student -- who was wearing headphones -- began crossing at the intersection of 36th and Sansom streets. A car swerved or stopped quickly to avoid hitting the student, and the driver and student began arguing, University Police said. The driver, Adrian Torquemada, then got out of the car and raised a baseball bat at the student, who ran away and called police, officers said. Fifteen minutes later, police saw a car matching the description provided by the Law student, pulled it over and brought Torquemada to the Philadelphia Police Department's Southwest detectives unit. Because police did not witness the incident, they could not arrest Torquemada. But they advised the student to file a private criminal complaint against the man. -- Ian Rosenblum