WATERLOO - A University of Waterloo custodian says she was "humiliated and traumatized" after campus police arrested her for stealing a student's cellphone.

"I never did anything wrong to have myself arrested," said Marta Arce Vargas, 47, who's worked at UW for 10 years.

"I was treated like a criminal," said the Kitchener woman. "It was really shocking and humiliating."

Vargas was questioned but never charged. She was not put into handcuffs.

She said she distrusts the campus police and fears them after they accused her of stealing a cellphone while working a night shift at the university last month.

"They never came to me and said 'Sorry, we made a mistake,' " she said.

"The officers went too far."

CUPE spokesperson Jill Smyth, who represents custodians at UW, said the union has filed a policy grievance, contesting Vargas' arrest.

"How she was treated was outrageous," she said. "It was an abuse of authority.

"It's pretty scary that anybody can make an allegation and then you are treated this way," Smyth said.

On April 8, Vargas was working a typical 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift. She was picking up garbage, cleaning washrooms and dusting desks on the third floor of the math building.

She cleaned a common area where students often hang out and sometimes fall asleep while studying. At about 11:30 p.m., a co-worker asked her if she had seen a cellphone because a student said her mobile phone was stolen.

She told him she hadn't seen a cellphone. The student went through the garbage Vargas collected and no phone was found. She went about her work, completing her shift.

Just before she was done at 1:50 a.m., a supervisor told her that campus police wanted to talk to her. That's when an officer told her she was under arrest for stealing a cellphone.

"It was a shock," said Vargas, who recalls the officer telling her she had a right to speak to a lawyer.

She was told that the officer needed to check her backpack. They also asked her if she had any weapons.

Vargas said she was repeatedly asked by the officer if the cellphone was in her pocket. She was then told that they were not charging her and two special constables drove her home.

"I thought did this really happen. I was in disbelief," she said.

Vargas went to work the following Monday, but was still distraught.

"I felt like I had a nervous breakdown. I started crying. I was so mad and had so many emotions inside of me," said Vargas, who took a two-week sick leave after having trouble sleeping. She is now back to work.

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In 2013, Vargas was awarded $5,000 by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario for what she said was not reasonable accommodation at work for an injured knee.

UW spokesperson Nick Manning said campus police responded to a report of an allegedly stolen mobile phone on April 9. An individual was arrested and released without any charge, he said.

The university would not comment further.