Police Impostor Calls Other Area Colleges

The same crank caller who has harassed more than a dozen Harvard students has struck at other Massachusetts colleges as well, law enforcement authorities said yesterday.

More than 20 students at Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Mass., have received calls identical to those reported at Harvard, in which a male caller purports to be a police officer, a Mount Holyoke police official said yesterday.

Mt. Holyoke officials have discussed the matter with Harvard police, she said.

"He was telling them he was doing an investigation of obscene phone calls," the spokesperson said. "He asked personal questions: what underclothing they wore, if they had cameras in their room."

The officer said the man has identified himself as either "Lieutenant Gerard" or "Dan Rivers," the same names attributed to the Harvard caller.

"They're all similar. They're all alike. I believe they're the same person," said the spokesperson.

When the calls began about three weeks ago, Mount Holyoke police responded by circulating a security alert, telling students to immediately hang up on any caller meeting the police description, the official said.

She added that almost identical calls have been reported at nearby Amherst College, but Amherst security officials said they were unaware of any calls similar to those received at Harvard.

Meanwhile, Harvard police Chief Paul E. Johnson said that "no reportable action" was taken on the case yesterday.

Law Enforcement officials have said they want to trace the calls to a specific number, but Robert L. Ullmann '77, anattorney in the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston,said police need a federal court order before theycan trace calls or tap phone lines.

"You have to appear before a judge, incamera, and show that it's necessary to acriminal investigation," he said.

Students said Thursday they were told one callhad been traced to somewhere in New York state,but Harvard police have refused to discuss anytrace attempts.

Ullman said that an order to tap a phone wouldremain secret until the investigation wasconcluded. Ullmann also suggested that federalauthorities, such as the FBI, would havejurisdiction over this type of an investigation.

FBI spokesperson Paul Cavanaugh did not returnseveral phone calls from The Crimson