An email was sent to Saint Mary’s students Thursday morning providing updates on last week’s incident in which a maintenance worker was fired and arrested for allegedly observing students in the fourth floor restrooms of Le Mans Hall. According to the email on April 17, the prosecutor’s office formally charged David Summerfield, a former maintenance worker, with voyeurism and theft for stealing students’ clothing from a laundry room. On Monday, the Saint Joseph County Special Victims Unit (SVU) investigators, escorted by campus personnel, conducted an investigation of Le Mans’ attic and the private and community restrooms on the fourth floor. Police documented 21 holes in these locations. A female painter and a female maintenance worker then patched all of those holes. The email stated College personnel inspected all restrooms on campus, and female Building Services employees checked the bathrooms in the residence halls. Saint Mary’s President Carol Ann Mooney’s email said she hopes students feel more at ease knowing the situation was quickly resolved by the SVU, and the College took immediate and appropriate actions. “We notified all involved or potentially impacted and conducted a campus-wide inspection to identify and fix any areas of concern,” Mooney said in the email. “It was our intent to address this as quickly as humanly possible. Nothing is more important than the safety, security and privacy of our students, campus guests, faculty and staff. “This is a very troubling moment in Saint Mary’s 170-year history, but one man’s actions certainly does not mar the excellence of this institution, the faculty, our students and the staff.” Mooney asked students to remain vigilant and report anything that does not look or feel right to Campus Security (284-5000), Residence Life (284-4522) or a Resident Advisor. It is because of staff on campus that the issue came to light, Mooney said. “A vigilant employee helped surface this issue, and he is a wonderful example of what it means to be a part of the Saint Mary’s community, a community that cares about and looks out for each other,” she said.
