A former SHSU student employee indicted for burglary will be tried on Oct. 17.University Police arrested David Ortiz, a former employee for the SHSU Vending department, on two charges of burglary of habitation. The case has been assigned to the 278th District Court, and Judge Kenneth Keeling will preside over the trial.Mike Werner, manager of the university’s Vending Department, said Ortiz worked for the school cleaning the lint in dormitory dryers, and had a master key that also granted access to students’ rooms in smaller houses.”At that time, students were cleaning dryer lint,” said Werner. “What we’re doing now is, they don’t have any keys to anything.”Werner said prior to the burglary, there had never been any similar incidents in the past 13 years he had worked for the university. Despite the lack of burglaries in the past, he and his staff decided to end the policy of allowing student employees to have master keys.”When someone does something like that, that’s it,” said Werner.Student employees still have access to clean dryers in large dorms that are already open, such as Belvin-Buchanan Hall and Smith-Kirkley, but from now on, only full time employees will be allowed to clean the dryers in smaller houses.”All your large dorms are open all day to anyone, and our students are free to clean the machines,” said Werner. “The only key they have now is to the lint trap doors.”Werner said that with the university considering a new card key system, students might again be allowed to enter smaller residence houses without access to private rooms.With assistance from the Huntsville Police Department, UPD detained Ortiz on Nov. 5 and questioned him about the burglaries. Ortiz admitted to the offenses, and was subsequently arrested. His bail was set at $2,000. A second non-student suspect was also implicated in the crimes. A grand jury indicted Ortiz on two counts of burglary for stealing private items from the dorm rooms of students Brooke Sims of the Zeta Tau Alpha House on Oct. 29 and Antwaine Williams and Cecil Graves of the McCray House on Oct. 30. Sims declined to comment, and Williams could not be reached.Graves said that he had two or three textbooks stolen, and that he was not aware the thief was a student. The books were not returned to him, and so far, he has not been compensated for his lost property.”I was really upset about it,” said Graves. “It’s bad that the school didn’t have a better system that allowing people access to your room.”As of now, Ortiz is not enrolled in the university.Dean Jack Parker, vice president for Finance and Operations, said the crime also included destruction of property, and the university can seek a wide variety of ways to punish an individual.”The university does have the power to sanction an individual for anything from a verbal warning to restitution for the property,” said Parker.Parker also said the university’s power to punish a student only extends to suspension in most situations, and he advises students who are victims of crimes to seek a judicial form of response.Parker said that while in this situation a locked door did not prevent the burglaries, it is still the best way for students to prevent the loss of property in most cases.”Always keep your door locked, and always take every safety precaution,” said Parker. “And mark the items that you own so they can be identified.”Parker also suggested keeping information about items such as serial numbers in a safe place to increase the chance of retrieving stolen property.UPD and the District Attorney’s office were unavailable for comment.