College student wakes to find food delivery driver at foot of her bed, CT cops say
When a sleeping college student opened her eyes at night, she was met with a shocking sight.
She saw a mysterious man, later revealed to be a food delivery driver, standing at the foot of her bed on Nov. 16, police in Hamden, Connecticut said in a news release.
The student started to scream, causing the stranger to flee her home that is four minutes outside of Quinnipiac University. She then called authorities.
Her complaint was similar to one received shortly before that same evening about an attempted burglary of another female college student’s off-campus home roughly one mile away, police said.
The first student who reported the burglary around 11:30 p.m. told law enforcement that she found someone trying to smash through a window of her home.
When she shined a flashlight toward the window, the suspect stopped and ran away on foot, according to police.
After the second student called 911 about the stranger standing inside her room, police located the suspect’s car in the neighborhood and tried to stop him but he fled.
With the help of state police, Hamden police caught the suspect and found evidence inside his vehicle, according to the release.
Police arrested Adiel Viana-Ribeiro, 24, of Bridgeport. He’s been charged him with first-degree burglary, second-degree criminal mischief, sixth-degree larceny, engaging police in pursuit and reckless driving.
“He was specifically targeting previous customers, college-aged women,” that used app-based food delivery services, Detective Sean Dolan said during a news conference recorded by WTNH.
He “then would go back....after determining there weren’t any males at the houses he was targeting,” Dolan said.
In addition to making food deliveries, Viana-Ribeiro would also drive “passengers for app-based service companies,” according to the news release.
When McClatchy News reached out to the online food ordering service DoorDash for comment, a spokesperson said: “These horrifying reports are deeply disturbing, and we immediately removed the Dasher from our platform.”
“The safety of our community is paramount, and we have reached out to law enforcement to support their investigation in any way we can,” they added.
McClatchy News has also reached out to police for further comment.
Viana-Ribeiro is being held on a $60,000 bond at the New Haven Correctional Center as of Nov. 17, according to an inmate search.
He is set to appear in court on Dec. 29, police said in the release.
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 5:51 PM.
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