TORONTO – Residents living at York University campus and the surrounding area have been warned by campus police to keep vigilant after reports that a sick, sick individual is lurking in campus laundry rooms and removing women’s dry laundry from the dryer machines.
The individual is known to enter laundry rooms during the day, search for dryers that have recently ended their cycle, remove the dry clothes, and replace them with his own.
Dubbed the ‘Laundry Sicko’ by campus police, this creep is also known to place the clothes taken out of the dryer directly on top of the machine where they subsequently come into contact with dust, lint, and other forms of laundry residue, which would require any sane person to rewash their clothes at least three times.
“This complete disregard for using the empty baskets that have been left behind for the purpose of containing the previous patron’s dry clothes tells us that the Laundry Sicko is extremely dangerous,” York campus police constable Mark Pritchard said. “Students are strongly cautioned not to leave their laundry unattended or, better yet, to avoid doing laundry altogether until we have this sicko locked up behind bars.”
Police suspect the Laundry Sicko is an average looking male who acts friendly in order to gain his victim’s trust. He will probably make conversation, and try his utmost to make women believe he poses no threat to their laundry. However, when left alone in the vicinity of dry clothes the laundry sicko will strike fast, quickly replacing the clothes with his own wet laundry.
Police caution that following the crime, the Laundry Sicko will hide in the surrounding area for approximately 45min and is likely to return.
So far, police say they have been unsuccessful in apprehending the Laundry Sicko because of the many reports of laundry assaults occurring throughout the campus within short time spans. Just yesterday, students reported incidents in Calumet Residence, Hilliard Residence, and Founders Residence shortly before 7:00pm.
“We’re not sure if the Laundry Sicko has an accomplice or if he knows his way around the campus really well,” Pritchard told reporters. “What’s complicating matters is that the Laundry Sicko seems to have a very large wardrobe, as we haven’t been able to make links between the items of clothing we find have been replaced in the dryers.”
Police also believe the Laundry Sicko may be a cross-dresser because he sometimes puts women’s clothing in the dryer after removing his victim’s clothes.
Students who have fallen victim to the Laundry Sicko have had a tough time coping with the experience. Third year student Lisa Mathews, 21, is still in shock after her clothes were violated over the weekend.
“What kind of a sick creep would do something like this?” Mathews asked. “Couldn’t he have waited at least ten minutes like the poster on the door says?”
Like many other victims, Mathews expressed concern about the personal items the Laundry Sicko may have touched.
“I had bras in there,” Mathews said, her voice trembling. “Now I’m going to have to rewash these clothes at least five times before I can ever feel safe wearing them again.”
Although worn clothing comes into contact with a variety of bacteria, viruses, and dirt throughout the day, many agree that it is incomparable to the horror of having a stranger’s bare hands touch those same clothes immediately after they have been cleaned.
Ronda Chung, a PhD in criminal psychology and author of Are Your Clothes Safe?, warns that the Laundry Sicko will strike again in the near future.
“This behaviour is very suggestive of a predator,” Chung said. “The Laundry Sicko targets helpless clothes in order to feel superior. This quickly becomes addictive, and we can expect him to return to the scene of the crime approximately once every two weeks so long as he has the coins necessary to do a wash.”
York University has been in contact with local organizations to see if clothing donations can temporarily be diverted from homeless shelters to help those students whose clothes have been violated.
