Three Thieves, Two Cops, One Bike

It was the Harvard police three-step: One bike. Two police officers. Three suspects under arrest. All in a day's work.

It happened Monday around 3:30 p.m. outside Eliot House, where police say a Harvard Dining Services employee spotted George L. Rivera, a 30 year-old Cambridge resident, making off with an expensivelooking bike.

The dining hall worker, who remains unidentified, called Harvard police to alert them to the suspicious activity occurring outside.

Officers Thomas Hustus and Laureen Donahue were summoned to the scene and began to pursue the suspect through the Harvard campus, police said.

Rivera, police said, peddled his way through Cambridge's narrow streets and stopped in front of the Hong Kong restaurant on Massachusetts Ave., where he abandoned the bike and fled on foot.

According to police, Rivera led police all the way to the Broadway market, where he was finally nabbed by Donahue.

Suspect Charged in Robbery

Rivera was arrested and charged with larceny in excess of $250, according to the police report of the incident.

But in the meantime, two men from San Jose, California who had been watching the chase, found the abandoned bike irresistible.

Police say the pair, Galen R. Kinros, 23, and Stephen M. Sprinkles, 21, picked up the popular bike and began to make off with it themselves.

Lt. John F. Rooney, who had joined the patrol, then pursued Kinros and Sprinkles along Mt. Auburn St. After a brief chase, Donahue arrested the latest culprits, who were also charged with larceny in excess of $250.

Rivera, Kinros and Sprinkles do not have phone numbers in the greater Boston area and could not be reached for comment.

One bike. Two police officers. Three suspects under arrest. All in a day's work.