Columbia resident Xan Roberts learned the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. His story began with trying to help a friend and ended up with a brutal beating that landed him in the hospital.

It's a story that some say is becoming commonplace in Five Points.

Roberts, 27, was with a friend at the bar Group Therapy around 2 am on August 8 when she found that her purse was missing.

The two left the bar and headed towards Harper's Restaurant, and that's when things went wrong.

"I'm not sure if she said something to people about the missing purse, but the next thing I knew, she left with her ride, and about 10 to 15 people immediately jumped me and started beating me," Roberts said. "They took my wallet, keys, license, phone, and some credit cards."

Roberts said he blacked out during the pummeling. His friend returned to the scene, held his head, and was covered with his blood by the time emergency personnel arrived.

"I was throwing up," Roberts said. "But I really don't remember anything, even the ambulance coming."

When Roberts arrived at the hospital, he said he met another man who had a broken jaw. He told a story similar to Roberts - of being beaten and robbed by a large gang of people in Five Points.

Roberts said he was lucky in that his injuries only involved what he believes was a mild concussion and some bruising. He returned to work last week, but said that he feels differently about the atmosphere in Five Points.

"I have been going down to Five Points since I was 21, and I don't remember feeling that this was a dangerous place," said Roberts, a 2002 graduate of Glen Forest High School. "Things like this didn't used to happen."

Grubb & Ellis/Wilson Kibler CEO Jeremy Wilson, who lives four blocks from the scene of the Roberts' beating, said he knows "of a half- dozen kids that this has happened to recently."

"It's happening, but we aren't hearing about it," Wilson said. "I don't know if it's the merchants who don't want us to know or the police who don't want us to know, but the truth is that I feel it's not safe down there anymore."

Merritt McHaffie, the executive director of the Five Points Association, said the organization is very aware of the crime situation and has been working with the City of Columbia and its police department "to roll out a major security initiative that should take care of many, many of these problems."

"This situation is very concerning to us," McHaffie said. "There has always been a certain crime element to the Five Points area, but the gang activity problem seems to becoming more of an issue in the last year. It's not acceptable."

Another element that complicates the issue, McHaffie said, is the lack of official reporting by victims, who may fear retaliation from the police because they are inebriated, under the influence of drugs, or underaged drinkers. Others feel like waiting around to file a police report would be a waste of time.

"We get these emails and hear rumors floating around about crime happening around here, and we immediately go to our police captain and try to match up the incidents with a police report, and many, many times there is nothing there, because it's not reported," McHaffie said. "Unless there is documentation, we can't work to fix these problems."

McHaffie said the association and police are hoping to roll out an announcement about the new security initiatives within the next month.

"We want to make Five Points the safest place in the entire city of Columbia," she said.

Chief Tandy Carter of the Columbia Police Department said he's got it {the situation} on his radar and the department is following it up.