Police Catch Suspects In Bicycle Theft, Scam On Friday; Arrest Two

The Harvard University Police arrested two men last Friday for unrelated thefts.

On a routine patrol early Friday morning, Officer Kevin McCarthy spotted three suspicious people carrying a bicycle with no front wheel in front of the Science Center.

According to HUPD Management Information Systems Coordinator Peggy McNamara, McCarthy called for backup and pursued the suspects on foot.

The suspects threw the bicycle into a bush and fled. After a short chase, the officers caught two of the three behind Gund Hall.

The officers recovered the bicycle from the bush and, from information on it, attempted unsuccessfully to contact its owner, who McNamara said was a University affiliate.

After identifying the two suspects they caught, the officers released one and arrested the other, Virgilio O. Costa, for receiving stolen property over $250.

McNamara said the bicycle was taken from the Yard, but had not been reported stolen when the officers found it.

In a second incident Friday afternoon, the HUPD received a call from the Boston Police Department saying Boston police had apprehended David Williams, for whose arrest HUPD had taken out a warrant.

Williams was wanted by the HUPD for larceny over $250, uttering a false instrument and forgery, after he flim-flammed a Harvard student outside the Malkin Athletic Center.

According to McNamara, Williams told his victim that he needed cash for a train ticket. When the student lent him the money--over $250, according to police reports--he wrote an IOU with a false name.

Harvard police also responded to a report of a radiation spill at 240 Longwood Ave., building C, room 505 at the Medical School Friday.

According to McNamara, by the time officers arrived at the scene the occupant of room 505 had cleaned up the spilled material, which was discovered to be radioactive Phosphorous.

According to Ronald J. Gibbons a spokesperson for the medical area, it is standard procedure in the event of a radioactive spill to call the police and the Department of Environmental Health and Safety.