Police Arrest Suspects In Bike Thefts at Eliot

On a tip from a student, police arrested three people Friday morning for stealing bikes from racks by Eliot House.

At 3:10 a.m. on Friday, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) received a report from a caller who had observed two men acting suspiciously by the bike rack in front of the entrance to Eliot, HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano said.

The caller observed a third individual sitting in van with a bike visible inside.

HUPD dispatched several officers who encountered the van on their way to Eliot.

“By the time we got there, they had taken three bicycles and were driving away," Catalano said.

Catalano said the police stopped the van and arrested the three people inside.

The three arrested were identified as Derek Mabra, 21, of Concord, N.H., Benjamin Snodgrass, 20, of Cambridge and Benjamin Saperstein, 21, of Greensboro, N.C.

Each suspect was charged with trespassing and three counts each—one for each bike—of larceny over $250.

In an e-mail to the House, Eliot Superintendent Francisco Medeiros wrote that the arrest was “thanks to an alert by an Eliot House student.”

Medeiros suggested that students store their bikes in the basement “for security reasons.”

Catalano said HUPD receives reports of over 100 stolen bikes per year, and they encourage students to register their bikes with HUPD and use a U-lock instead of a cable lock.

“Most importantly, we ask people to keep an eye on the bike rack when going in and out of their dorms,” Catalano said, lauding Eliot’s “vigilant community member who saw what they thought was suspicious and gave us a call.”

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.