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Siena Rampulla was a victim of an off-campus break-in in March 2022, as reported by Daily Voice.
Jorge L. Navaheredia, 29, of Sicklerville, had broken into several women's homes including Rampulla's, according to Glassboro police. He was caught hiding under a kitchen sink with panties, police said. A search of the suspect's vehicle turned up additional panties and mail from burglary victims, police said at the time.
A pre-trial conference for Navaheredia is set for Feb. 26 at 9 a.m. before Superior Court Judge George Gangloff, according to court records.
"It was very creepy," Rampulla said of the break-in. "It was terrifying. I had nightmares (and was) anxiety-ridden the next few months. It was a horrible time, absolutely."
Rampulla also found herself checking under her bed and in closets for intruders.
The trauma of the ordeal inspired Rampulla to develop new technology to alert police, fire or EMS crews of an emergency. She's launching the app on March 1 at Rowan University and says it can be used nationwide.
"It can be applied anywhere," Rampulla said.
Called PULLATracker, the app has separate buttons for police, firefighters, EMS crews, and another to cancel the call. A call can be canceled in 15 seconds if it's found to be a false alarm.
PULLATracker relays a pre-recorded text message to dispatch. The text message includes the person's name, location and what type of first responder is needed.
The advantage of text versus a phone call is that a stalker or intruder then can't hear a call being made, Rampulla said.
The message is “PULLATracker: [USER’S NAME] needs [RESPONDERS] sent to <LOCATION> immediately. They are unable to call.”
Then there are updates every two minutes to the police.
Rampulla thinks that had her app been available to the women in the break-ins Navaheredia would have been caught earlier.
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