By Amanda Brennan
Niki Sodetz, a student studying political science at the University of Illinois, was attacked in her apartment by a man claiming to be an electrician. She is sharing her story to help educate the public and make other students aware of the dangerous situation.
Around 11am on Tuesday, Sodetz let the man into her apartment after putting in a maintenance request for her bathroom light the night before. Once she let him in, she went back into bed in her room.
About 30 seconds later, he knocked on her door, entered and tried to give her a high five while she was laying in bed. At first, she was frozen. She didn't believe he was going to hurt her.
Then, Sodetz says, he knelt down next to her bed and began patting around the comforter. He then moved the sheets up and down and began to touch her legs. When she asked him what he was doing, he responded, "you called me in here, I thought you wanted this."
Once she said, "what do you mean?" he quickly left and fled the apartment.
A University of Illinois police officer told her that while the fake maintenance employees aren't uncommon, what is uncommon is that he attacked her. Normally they will just try to move objects around in the apartments they enter.
In a Campus Safety Notice to students on Tuesday afternoon, UIPD urges students to avoid letting unknown people into their apartments if they can't verify their identity. They also recommend keeping doors and windows locked at all times and calling 911 immediately if someone refuses to leave your residence.
This is an ongoing investigation and UI7 Live will continue to update the story as details become available.
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