Sports: Aggies falter against OSU in Big 12 opener • Page 5
Opinion: Cannabis issues rehashed • Page 11
THE BATTALION
Volume 109 • Issue 73 • 12 pages Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Monday, January 13, 2003
A&M freshman killed in a murder-suicide
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Rochelle Roquemore, a sophomore
chemical engineering major from
Sugar Land, will be starting classes
Monday without her sister and room
mate Jacqueline, a freshman educa
tion major from Sugar Land, who was
killed on Dec. 29 outside her Spring
Loop apartment at the Spring Heights
apartment complex in College Station.
“Jackie was so beautiful and
vibrant it can't be described. She has a
right to live,” Rochelle said.
Christopher Young, the 23-year-old
from Missouri City who killed
Jacqueline before taking his own life
was being sought by College Station
police the night before the shooting,
said Lt. Rodney Sigler, public infor
mation officer for the College Station
Police Department (CSPD).
Rochelle said she spoke with Young
for more than two hours on Dec. 28
after arriving home at 9:30 p.m. to find
Young at the Roquemore’s apartment
with a gun, threatening to kill himself.
Young had climbed onto the
Roquemore’s apartment balcony and
broke through the glass door to enter
the apartment looking for
Jacqueline, who was staying with
friends, Rochelle said.
“1 thought he was all right when he
left,” Rochelle said.
Sigler said Rochelle filed a com
plaint after the incident.
CSPD contacted Young by cell
phone the night of Dec. 28. and he
told police he was in Houston but
refused to cooperate and turn himself
in, Sigler said.
After police spoke with Young
they put out a Welfare Bulletin, a
bulletin at a lower status than an All
Police Bulletin (APB), informing
any official who came into contact
with Young that he was armed and
potentially dangerous.
“We got in touch with everyone we
could between here and Houston and
told them about it,” said Sigler.
“We did everything we could to
find him,” Sigler said.
Young confronted Jacqueline alone
See Murder on page 2
Key Players
Jacqueline
Roquemore:
Victim; 18-year-old
A&M freshman
Rochelle
Roquemore:
Sister and roommate ]
to Jacoueline; 21-
year-old sophomore
Christopher
Young:
23-year-old boyfrieiu|
of Jacqueline from
Missouri City, Texas !,
Saturday, December 28,20021Sunday, December 29,2002
-Young breaks into Roquemore’s
apartment
9:30 p.m.
Rochelle arrives home
Finds Young inside apartment
alone with a gun threatening tol
kill himself
11:30 pan.
- Young leaves apartment
- Rochelle files complaint with
CSPD
- Rochelle is unable to contact
Jacqueline
Young arrives at Spring
Heights Apartment Complex j
at unknown time
Jacqueline leaves apartment
and meets Young in parking lot
12:48 pum.
-Young shoots Jacqueline and
then kills himself
-Rochelle calls 911 from
apartment after hearing
snots fired
- Jacqueline is pronounced
dead after being taken to
College Station Medical Center
1 TRAVIS SWEMfiU. TUf BATTALWR
Rainy days
ALISSA HOLLIMON • THE BATTALION
Lauren Cathcart, freshman finance major, Kelly Culver, freshman tion science major battle the weather Sunday afternoon on Mosher
biomedical sciences major and Amy Combest, freshman construe- circle. The forecast for this week shows no sign of rain.
Cadet given
5 years for
child porn
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
An A&M student and Corps of Cadets mem
ber was sentenced Dec. 13 to five years in fed
eral prison after pleading guilty to possessing
child pornography, said University Police
Department (UPD) director Bob Wiatt.
Stephen Michael Johnston, 22, a senior psy
chology major from Brownsville, was arrested
this March as part of a nationwide FR 1 sting
called “Operation Candyman.” Johnston was a
subscriber to the “Candyman” e-mail group in
which an estimated 6,000 users exchanged
images of pornography involving children as
young as 18 months. Johnston had been in jail
in Houston since his arrest.
UPD officers executed a search warrant and
confiscated Johnston’s personal computer from
his residence hall room in Fountain Hall Dec.
10, 2001, and sent it to the FBI. Wiatt said the
computer was “replete with child pornogra
phy.”
Col. Rick Mallahan, assistant commandant
of the Corps, said in June that Johnston intend
ed to return to school if he did not get sentenced
to prison.
Johnston was one of more than 80 individu
als arrested nationwide in the Candyman sting.
An East Texas man who was the leader of the e-
mail pornography ring was sentenced Dec. 19
to 30 years in prison. Mark Bates, 33, of
Palestine, pled guilty to distributing child
pornography.
Johnston had earlier pled not guilty to
charges of conspiracy to distribute child
pornography, which would have carried a max
imum 15-year prison term and a $250,000 fine.
Subscribers to the Candyman group were
expected to contribute images as well as receive
them.
Two other Texas men arrested in the sting
were also sentenced in December. Robert
Froman, 49, received 15 years, and Billy Loyd
White, 46, received four years. Both are from the
Houston area.
Car wrecks kill 3 students
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
A&M lost three students in
car accidents during the semes
ter break.
Gokul Lakshman, a graduate
student from India studying
petroleum engineering, and
Kishore Shivdas Naik, a gradu
ate student studying aerospace
engineering also from India,
were both killed Dec. 22 in an
accident on the access road of
Highway 6 outside Texas World
Speedway.
Naik and Lakshman, along
with Houston resident Grishma
Shetty, were broadsided by an
18-wheeler at the Peach Tree
cutoff and the eastern Highway
6 access road.
According to the Department
of Public Safety (DPS) report,
Naik’s blue Mazda 626 ran the
stop sign on Peach Tree cutoff, a
bridge across Highway 6, and
was hit on the driver’s side by an
18-wheeler carrying an empty
cargo tanker. The report states
See Wrecks on page 2
Hackers use A&M phone system
By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
Five voice mailboxes at Texas A&M fell prey
to foreign phone hackers utilizing the automated
system to place collect calls from Saudi Arabia
late last week.
Officials do not yet know the total cost of the
breach.
The Physical Plant issued a memorandum
Thursday alerting staff to the problem. Physical
Plant Assistant Vice President Richard L.
Williams called the incident a serious intrusion
and said the call transfer option would be disabled
on all campus phone lines.
Walt Magnussen, associate director of
telecommunications, said his office received
two telephone calls from Verizon Long Distance
and MCI at 7:50 a.m. Thursday. Within an hour,
his office had distributed the e-mail notifying
all staff of the problem and initiated the shut
down of features that had been exploited by the
See Hackers on page 2
B-CS still deemed safe
after student deaths
By Esther Robards-Forbes
THE BATTALION
The Bryan-College Station community is still
considered safe following the recent shooting
death of a Texas A&M freshman, say officials at
The University Police Department (UPD).
Last year, A&M was voted the safest campus in
the country based on violent and non-violent
crime statistics, said Sgt. Betty Lemay, head of the
UPD crime prevention unit. This year the campus
is still considered one of the safest, Lemay said.
“We are addressing issues from a number of
different angles by working with the administra
tion and the residence halls,” she said. “We saw a
big reduction in theft, and education is a big part
of that.”
The UPD Web site reports that occurrences of
theft and sex offense are down by more than 50
percent in the last two years. Meanwhile, liquor
See Safety on page 2
Mi 3B-CS
• In a safety survey of 183 cities:
- Bryan ranked 49
- College Station ranked 118
•B-CS ranked less than national
average in violent crime, but
more than national average
in property crime
• Sex offenses down 50% on
TAMU campus in past two years
Source: DPS, FBI, www.tamu.edu/upd
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION