By Brittany DeLong

A Troy man was arrested for trespassing at Troy University Thursday afternoon.

University police took Darren Van Smith, 34, into custody after a tip that he was seen in the library on campus.

“We had a student last year who came into contact with this guy,” University Police Chief John McCall said. “He gave her a name, a false name, and wanted to meet her and talk to her.”

The student thought he could potentially be a friend at first, McCall said, but eventually reported him to the police for sending vulgar text messages.

“Basically, ‘[forget] the coffee, let’s get on down to business. You know what this is all about,’” McCall relayed as the gist of the messages.

After his continued attempts to text her, the police made contact with Smith and told him to stay off campus or risk being arrested for trespassing.

“We saw him on campus,” McCall said. “He decided to take it upon himself and come back to campus this year thinking we’d forgotten him. We hadn’t.”

“So we picked him up and charged him with trespassing and locked him up. He’s got an extensive criminal history, so we’re very happy that we were able to get him off campus.”

A faculty member saw Smith between 2 and 2:30 p.m. in the hallways of Wallace Hall, which houses the campus library. She thought he looked out of place.

“I thought there was something suspicious about him,” said Reba Allen, university graphics director. “He just wasn’t acting right. I got up to see where he was going.  I was scared he was going to go into my room.”

Smith was removed from campus and taken to the Troy city jail where city police also report being very familiar with Smith’s activities.

Smith’s bond amount was not available at deadline Thursday. However, he will remain in the city jail until he meets his bond requirement, according to Troy Police.