More than $600 in cash was reported stolen from a podcast studio in the 2000 building at Kendall Campus, according to English and Communications professor Emily Sendin.
The money, which was in an unlocked box in Room 2221, was reported missing on Feb. 18. It contained fundraising revenue generated by the student-led media platform Storybytes and the English Honor Society Pi Eta Chapter.
Also stolen were three projectors with a total value of $65 and a $25 Cracker Barrel gift card.
The projectors were for Before the Games, an escape room sponsored by the College Media Association and the Student Press Law Center. Sendin replaced the projectors and the event will take place from Feb. 23 to Feb. 27 in the Learning Commons.
“I feel very devastated, because it’s been hours upon hours of work that we’ve dedicated to [these] organizations,” said Victoria Cuellar, who serves as president for both organizations.
The theft was discovered Wednesday at approximately 1:40 p.m. when Cuellar and two other students from the English Honor Society Pi Eta Chapter went to retrieve the funds to deposit it at the bursar’s office.
When they opened the box, which was hidden in a cabinet, the money was gone. The only thing left inside were sticky notes to distinguish how the money was split.
Shortly after, Cuellar contacted Sendin, who serves as adviser to both organizations. She filed a report with public safety and the Miami-Dade Police Department.
“I’m worried about the money that we were raising,” Sendin said. “It’s for the International English Honor Society convention. It’s happening like March 29 through April 1, and it’s in New Orleans, and they were excited about going. We submitted to several competitions, but I don’t know what’s going to happen right now.”
Storybytes started converting Room 2221 into a studio last August after a speech professor from the English and Communications Department retired.
On Jan. 12, Sendin made a request to have the space repainted. She said that the next time she visited the office was on Jan. 28, after Club Rush.
“They had [already] moved around the furniture, separated the furniture from the walls, and they had started painting with primer,” Sendin said.
A week later, Storybytes held a board meeting there.
When The Reporter reached out to Kendall Campus Public Safety Chief Henry Gutierrez concerning the incident he said he could not comment because it was an ongoing investigation.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact the Miami-Dade Police Department at (305) 279-6929 or Kendall Campus public safety at (305) 237-2100.
The organizations have set up GoFundMe accounts to try to recoup some of the funds. To donate to Storybytes, visit https://gofund.me/3532e137f. The English Honor Society Pi Eta Chapter’s GoFundMe link is: https://gofund.me/6c1a6601b
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