Police Charge Man in Dunster Thefts

Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) officers arrested a 33-year-old male suspected of stealing credit cards, cash and electronic equipment from Kirkland and Dunster House dorm rooms last week, HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano said.

Kim N. Daley of Lowell, Mass., was charged with trespassing, breaking and entering in the daytime and larceny from a building on Jan. 27, Catalano said.

One day earlier, two Kirkland House suitemates reported to HUPD that someone had stolen credit cards and money from their suite between 3 and 3:30 p.m., Catalano said.

When the victims told a fellow Kirkland resident that the money was missing, that resident recalled seeing a suspicious individual in his room.

According to Catalano, this resident said that the suspect had visited his room and asked, “Is this Eliot House?” The suspect then told the Kirkland resident he was looking for a Harvard student, but the name of the student he gave was fictitious, according to Catalano.

The suspect then fled the scene.

The next day around 4 p.m., police responded to a report at Dunster House of a person acting suspiciously.

When officers questioned Daley, the suspect, he told police that he was looking for a friend at Harvard. Catalano said the name Daley gave for his Harvard friend was fictitious.

After further investigation, police found a door opening into the Dunster House courtyard—normally closed to people without keycard access—that had been forced open. The police then arrested Daley for trespassing.

As officers booked the suspect, Catalano said, they discovered electronic devices and games in his possession.

About five hours after the arrest, HUPD received a call from at least two Dunster House residents reporting video game equipment missing from a suite’s common room and other electronic equipment missing from one student’s individual bedroom in the same suite.

According to Catalano, the descriptions of the missing items from Dunster matched the items found on the suspect during booking.

“[Daley] is [also] a prime suspect in the Kirkland House thefts,” Catalano said.

Except for the money, all of the property reported missing from both Kirkland and Dunster Houses last week was recovered, Catalano said.

He advised students to take precautions if they see a suspicious person in their House.

“When someone enters your room and they don’t belong and your gut tells you they don’t belong in the building, minimally you should call us right away,” Catalano said.

Paulette G. Curtis, the Dunster House senior tutor, sent an e-mail to the House after the thefts warning students to lock their doors and report suspicious activity to HUPD.

“Working together and looking out for each other will go a long way in keeping us all safe and secure,” she wrote in the e-mail.

—Staff writer Hera A. Abbasi can be reached at abbasi@fas.harvard.edu