The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, January 19, 2001 Page: 1 of 16
sixteen pages : ill. ; page 19 x 15 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
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Vol. LXXXVIII, Issue No. 17
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LIBRA at
SINCE 1916
Friday, January 19, 2001
Two confess to local robberies
by Elizabeth Jardina
THRESHER F.DITORIAI. STAFF
Houston police have arrested two
men involved in a string of 10 armed
robberies in the Rice area, one of
which was the Dec. 18 sexual as-
sault of a female student in a resi-
dence south of campus. Another case
cleared by the arrests is the Nov. 28
armed robbery of 5615 Chaucer
Drive in which three students were
held at gunpoint.
Christopher Desmoine Perry, 24,
was arrested Friday after police
traced him using a phone number
he left in a stolen car. His finger-
prints matched evidence found from
two of the robberies, and he appeared
on film from security cameras at
ATMs. In several of the robberies,
victims were forced to accompany
their attacker to ATMs to withdraw
money from their accounts.
Perry confessed to committing
nine robberies in areas near Rice
dating from last spring, including a
May 11 robbery at a house rented by
Rice students on McClendon Street.
Perry told police he had an ac-
complice, Cynical "Red" Lewis, 22,
in his last robbery, which took place
in West University on Dec. 22. Lewis,
who was arrested Monday, also ad-
mitted to the Dec. 18 sexual assault
and robbery. Perry was not involved
in that crime.
Police said Perry committed most
of the robberies without Lewis.
Perry, who has a previous con-
viction of misdemeanor theft, has
been charged with three counts of
aggravated robbery.
Lewis, whose criminal record in-
cludes narcotics offenses, has been
charged with two counts of aggra-
vated robbery and one count of ag-
gravated sexual assault.
Perry told police that he had a
drug addiction, citing problems with
"fry" — marijuana cigarettes dipped
in embalming fluid and sometimes
laced with PCP — and crack. I>ewis
also alluded to frequent use of "fry."
1 n the Nov. 28 Chaucer robbery, as
well as the May 11 robbery of students
living on McClendon, the attacker told
the victims that he needed money
because he had an ill mother.
The police said the case was still
under investigation. A car stolen
during the Dec. 18 incident has not
been recovered.
Lovett senior Joe Maloney, who
lives in the house on Chaucer that
was robbed, said he and his
housemates have become more
careful about locking their doors
since the incident. "I'm a little com-
pulsive," he said. Before the rob-
bery, they generally didn't lock the
doors when they were home. He
said students who lived in the house
in previous years had left the door
open all night during periods of hot
weather.
" I was su rprised to see the amou nt
of students who leave their doors
open at their houses, and the traffic
in and out of their houses at 3 and 4
in the morning," investigator K.L.
McMurtry said. But he said neither
Perry nor I>ewis was probably inten-
tionally victimizing students. "That
just happened to be the area [ Perry]
was working in — he wasn't target-
ing students," McMurtry said.
Former students sentenced for theft
by Olivia Allison
THRF.SHF.R EDITURIAI. STAFF
Former Wiess seniors Francisco
Padua and Scott Byer received four
years deferred adjudication and 30
days in Harris County Jail after plead-
ing guilty to the charge of theft at
their trial Tuesday.
'Hie students were arrested Sept.
28 outside a self-storage facility with
about $ 10,750 of property stolen from
Rice. Padua, Byer and Christian
"Ash" Martinez (Sid '00) had been
previously arrested Sept. 18 for bur-
glary of a computer monitor from
the Humanities Building.
Byer and Padua also admitted to
the theft of six projectors, and Uni-
versity Police Chief Bill Taylor esti-
mated that the two were responsible
for more than $60,000 worth of on-
campus thefts including furniture
and computer equipment.
Martinez, who was also tried
Tuesday, agreed to two years de-
ferred adjudication but received no
jail sentence for his plea of guilty to
the charge of burglary of the Hu-
manities Building.
Deferred adjudication is a form
of probation, if the subject does not
commit another crime within the set
period, there will be no trial, and the
subject's permanent record will read
that he pleaded guilty or "no con-
test" to a felony charge but was not
convicted of a felony. If the subject
violates the terms of the deferred
adjudication, he will be sentenced
for the original crime and tried for
any subsequent crimes.
Padua and Byer will not be incar-
cerated until May 10 because they
are taking courses this spring at the
University of Houston.
Judge Ted Poe also sentenced
Padua and Byer to 20 hours of com-
munity service per month until they
have each served 240 hours, and the
two will not be allowed to leave Har-
ris County without permission for
the duration of their term of deferred
adjudication. They must also each
pay half of the $27,500 that it would
cost to reinstall three projectors. In
addition, all thr|p;<ibjects must write
letters of apology to the Rice admin-
istration and to the student body.
'Hie letters must be approved by
Poe, and then Padua and Byer must
pay the advertising rate for the let-
ters to be printed in The Rice
Thresher.
Taylor said he thought Padua and
Byer might have received more time
in jail, and that he wouldn't have
disagreed with a harsher sentence.
"I think for what they did to Rice
University and the community here,
the students, faculty and staff, that it
See THEFTS, Page 6
ROB GADDI/THRESHER
James A. Baker Ill's keynote address began the "Time and the Presidency"
exhibit Wednesday night. The exhibit in Baker Hall features photographs of
11 presidents from Time magazine and will continue through Jan. 31.
Speeches kick off 'Time' exhibit
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER F.DITORIAI. STAFF
Former Secretary of State James
A. Baker III spoke about the lack of
civility and cooperation in national
government and politics at Baker
Hall on Wednesday night.
I~he presentation was the key-
note address of the "Time and the
Presidency" photo exhibit currently
at Baker Hall and sponsored by the
James A. Baker III Institute for Pub-
lic Policy, of which Baker is the hon
orary chair.
"My remarks tonight are non-
partisan," he said jokingly.
Hugh Sidey, Time magazine's
t * :V-: *
l>
i
Washington contributing editor, also
spoke.
Baker gave examples of new poli-
tics in Washington, including the
politicizing of the criminal justice
system, the criminalizing of the po-
litical system, the nastiness of the
confirmation process and the con-
tinual election cycle.
"The day after the election is
uniformly seen as the first day of
the next [election cycle]," Baker
said.
Baker said the most egregious
exan.p'e of the lack ofciviiity in poli-
tics is the development of "gotcha"
politics, in which everyone looks for
See POLITICS, Page 5
INSIDE
OPINION Page 3
Anticipating Clinton's legacy
RENATA ESCOVAR/THRESHER
Raindrops keep falling on my head
Wiess freshman Annie Goodrich seeks shelter from the rain under her umbrella. The first week of classes began with three days of rain, but
no showers are predicted for the weekend.
A&E Page 9
'O Brother' delivers seamless story
SPORTS Page 13
Lady Owls meet with WAC leaders
Quote of the Week
"Gaming is like weightlifting for the
mind."
— Michael Casavant, physics graduate
student and director of OwlCon, the gam-
ing conference this weekend. See News in
Brief, Page 4.
Weekend Weather
Today
Scattered showers, 30-48 degrees
Saturday
Partly cloudy, 35-54 degrees
Sunday
Partly cloudy, 42-63 degrees
Root for the home team
Rice students can purchase dis-
counted tickets to the baseball team's
season-opening Astros College Classic
at Fnron Field Feb. 1-3. By presenting
student identification at the Rice ticket
office through Feb. 1 (while supplies
last), students can purchase tickets for
$5 per day instead of the regular $10 per
day price. Rice students are admitted
free with student ID to all home games
at Reckling Park.
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, January 19, 2001, newspaper, January 19, 2001; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth442984/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.