Police Arrest Two Youths on Charges Of Three Peabody Terrace Robberies

Harvard University police yesterday arrested two youths in connection with a string of robberies in the last two weeks at the Peabody Terrace garage.

The youths were charged with stealing more than $120 in cash on three separate occasions from three separate graduate students in and around the Memorial Drive-area garage. The warrants were served based on victim descriptions of the assailants.

The youths' names are being withheld until their arraignment Monday.

Harvard Police Deputy Chief Jack W. Morse said the rash of robberies in the usually safe area "hit us hard," prompting "intensive police work" to find the assailants. Harvard police dispatched plain-clothed officers and circulated a copies of a sketch of the suspects among police.

To prevent future robberies the University has increased police surveillance of the area; alerted tenant associations, and checked the lighting in and around the garage, Morse said.

Flyers were also placed, by parties other than police, on windshields of cars parked in the garage warning owners to be aware of the problem.

The assailants struck graduate students as they were leaving the garage once in the morning, one time in the early afternoon, and in the middle of the night, police reported.

In the most recent incident on Wednesday, a man accosted one of the victims, whose names are being withheld, while the student left the garage at 1:45 p.m. Threatening the student with what he said was a hidden knife, the robber made away with $22, police said.

One week earlier, at 11:00 a.m. another Peabody Terrace resident was allegedly robbed of $80 by one of the accused, who said he was carrying a gun. In both this and the later case, police said they found no evidence of weapons.

On March 22, just before 1:00 a.m. outside the garage, one of the accused ran off with a purse containing $20.