Robbery deemed false by UHPD

University police, investigating a claim of aggravated robbery, determined no crime occurred on campus after they re-interviewed the potential victim on Tuesday.

The security alert released by campus police last Thursday states that a UH student reported being “robbed by an unidentified male who displayed a knife during the robbery” near the entrance to Cambridge Oaks Apartments. The incident was said to have occurred at 6:55 a.m. but was not reported until after 6 p.m.

“Investigators looked at different pieces of evidence and reviewed video from the area and realized that the story was not adding up,” Police Lieutenant Bret Collier said.

The young woman who reported the incident recanted her story after coming in for a follow-up interview with campus police.

“She came in and recanted that the incident occurred there,” Collier said. “An incident did occur, but far off campus.”

Police describe the suspect as a black male in his late 40s, approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall, with a medium build of 190 pounds and facial hair.

No motive was given as to why a story was made up, and no charge for making a false report to a police officer is being pursued by UHPD.

Police presence has been escalated in the Cambridge Oaks area following an armed robbery and carjacking that occurred less than three weeks ago.

Collier said police still picked up patrol of the area even though details of the case pointed to a false report.

“We don’t take anything for granted. We worked under the assumption that it did actually happen,” Collier said.

Had the incident actually occurred, it would have marked the campus’ sixth aggravated robbery for 2010. The most recent statistics on the UHPD website state nine robberies total were reported in 2008.