Last week, while she was walking to her car after class, Brittnee Pokorny, a history major at Mt. Hood Community College, said she was mugged in a parking lot at the northwest corner of campus.

“I was walking to my car,” said Pokorny. “I was about 20 feet from my car when somebody came up from behind me, a guy, and ripped my backpack from my shoulders.” Pokorny said she fell to the ground, “Then he grabbed my duffle bag which was in my hand and ran off toward Stark, into the bushes.”

Pokorny said her assailant – described as middle-aged, with dark-brown hair and jean pants – was “an average person.” She believes he had to have come from the other part of the parking lot because “he came up behind me, and I was walking away from the school toward Stark.”

Don Oliver, director of public safety at MHCC, said, “Theft is the most frequent reported crime on campus and usually accounts for more than 90 percent of all reported criminal incidents.”

People were around, said Pokorny, but she doesn’t believe any of them saw what happened. “I didn’t yell or scream so I didn’t draw any attention to myself,” she said.

“I wasn’t too scared – just really mad that somebody would do something like that,” said Pokorny. “I had my midterms in my backpack and it was toward the end of the week.” She said her books, CD player, calculator – and two movies from the MHCC library – were stolen.

Acccording to Pokorny, the movies cost more than $60, and the library charged her the full cost of her checkouts.

“I was pretty shocked about what happened,” said Pokorny.

A feeling some students could avoid if they followed public safety advice.

“Always report suspicious persons and activities to public safety,” said Oliver. “It is important to report crime when it occurs on campus.”

But Pokorny didn’t report the crime with public safety.

“I didn’t feel it was really worth it,” said Pokorny. “I knew I wouldn’t get my books back, and I didn’t think it was too important. Things like this, I hear, happen all the time – not necessarily on campus, but in Portland. It just wasn’t worth it to me.”

At the prompting of The Advocate, Pokorny went to public safety to report the crime. “They decided that it was a third degree robbery and called the Gresham Police,” said Pokorny, adding that she “waited about 40 minutes for someone to show up.”

Oliver said, “When public safety takes a crime report from a student or staff member, it is forwarded to the Gresham Police Department.” This, said Oliver, saves the victim time. Oliver noted that “excellent enforcement communications exists between MHCC and the Gresham Police Department.”

Pokorny said, “Since I couldn’t identify the person, I wasn’t going to be much help.”
The Gresham Police could not be reached for comment.

“I still felt that I was safe because it was on campus,” said Pokorny.

Pokorny said she is “not going to park by the bushes anymore,” adding, “I am going to watch where I am walking [and] be aware of my surroundings at all times.”

Oliver agrees, recommending that students and staff try to “always be aware of [their] surroundings and those people who are near [them].”

Pokorny has lived in the Portland area for more than a year, during which time her car has been broken into five times. “Somebody threatened me with a knife when I first moved here,” she said.