Man charged with kidnapping after college standoff

By John Christoffersen

Associated Press

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A legally blind college graduate, described by a former roommate as a paranoid “hermit,” was in police custody today after allegedly taking 28 people hostage in a university classroom and claiming to have a bomb.

Patrick Arbelo, 24, of nearby Bridgeport was charged early today with 28 counts of first-degree kidnapping. Authorities said additional charges were pending.

The hostages, including an associate professor and students, were released gradually – some by faking illness – during the seven-hour standoff at Fairfield University. No one was injured.

Arbelo remained in the classroom for about an hour after he released the last hostage, Fairfield First Selectman Kenneth Flatto said. Arbelo “came out and gave himself up peacefully,” university spokeswoman Nancy Habetz said.

The 2001 graduate of the Roman Catholic university was held on a $500,000 bond and was to be arraigned.

Arbelo had a box with a wire sticking out of it, but he didn’t have a bomb, according to police and witnesses.

Necole Arrigo, a 19-year-old sophomore from Boston, said she was sitting in the classroom when a confused-looking Arbelo stumbled into the room and said he had a bomb.

“We didn’t think that it was a joke, but we thought it might be some sort of drill,” Arrigo said. “Then we noticed the teacher was very nervous. … He had no idea what he was doing.”

Stephen Kriso, who roomed with Arbelo during the 1996-97 school year, said Arbelo did everything before sundown because he was legally blind, and then would spend all night in the dorm room. He usually ate dinner when the cafeteria opened at 4 p.m. to avoid crowds, said Kriso, of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.

“He used to talk about the New World Order and the concepts of the Freemasons, and storing things in his attic in the event of a takeover by a group like the Freemasons,” Kriso said. “He was basically a hermit.”

But Kriso said Arbelo had never exhibited any violent behavior.

The religious studies class Arbelo interrupted, “Voices of Midieval Women,” is taught by Elizabeth A. Dreyer, the associate professor who was among the hostages.

Arrigo said Arbelo announced to the class that he was a member of a political party she had never heard of – “The National United Federalist Socialist Party.” He read what Arrigo called a “modern-day Nazi statement” and had a list of books he wanted the public to read.

Often with his back to the hostages, he told everyone to put their hands on their heads, she said, and ordered students to toss their book bags out of the classroom and tape up the windows. One student was able to signal for help.

A priest soon tried to enter the class. Arbelo pulled out a “baton” and beat him back, Arrigo said.

The police arrived and Arbelo began talking with them on a two-way radio that he had brought with him, Arrigo said. He demanded his statement be read to the media, along with the book list. Police refused his demands.

Arbelo released students who said they were sick or too scared to stay, said senior Ripton Marini of Rochester, N.Y., the last hostage to be freed.

“He seriously, actually, was very nice the entire time,” he said.

WCBS-TV in New York said Arbelo ordered one of the hostages to call the station, demanding that a statement be read over the air. The statement, which station spokeswoman Karen Mateo described as “rambling and anti-Semitic,” was not broadcast.

At the university, evening classes were canceled and students held a prayer service in a residence hall. Classes resumed this morning.

“It’s kind of scary going back to class,” said Jillian Brown, a 19-year-old sophomore who went back to her parents’ home in Ridgefield.

University Vice President Doug Whiting said officials were already reviewing campus procedures, but no immediate changes were planned.

The school, which has about 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, is in southwestern Connecticut about 50 miles from New York City.