A suspicious male was observed on campus and arrested by the Monmouth University Police Department (MUPD) on Wednesday, Mar. 17, according to an email from MUPD’s Captain of Police Dean Volpe.
The previous day, MUPD was made aware of multiple instances of the suspicious male interacting with female University students off campus, at their private residences. The University students contacted the Long Branch Police Department to report the individual, who is their neighbor.
“This neighbor was seen knocking on their doors and banging on their windows,” Volpe wrote in a statement to the University community. “He also approached at least one student in the street and invited her to come over to his house for a party. He has been described as seeking companionship of Monmouth University students along with other young women of the local community.”
The suspicious male was observed on campus the following night and was immediately arrested by the MUPD, the individual being banned from campus. If the individual were to return to campus after his ban, he will be subject to “defiant trespassing,” Volpe explained in a statement to The Outlook.
“Defiant trespassing is when a person enters a place despite having been given notice not to do so,” Volpe wrote. “If the subject returns to campus, he can be charged with Defiant Trespass. This is a petty disorderly person’s offense, and is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a possible fine of upward to $1,000.
Volpe also clarified the definition of harassment, being “when a person makes, or causes to be made, a communication or communications anonymously or at extremely inconvenient hours, or in offensively coarse language, or any other manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm.”
Harassment can also be considered a petty disorderly persons offense and may have the same penalties as mentioned above that maybe include community service, Volpe wrote.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth University
