Second Student Groped

A female undergraduate was groped yesterday just north of campus in the second indecent assault of a student in as many days.

This marked the first groping committed by a man on bicycle since last winter, when four of the 12 total victims of gropings in the Square were assaulted by a man on a bicycle.

At around 8:30 a.m., the victim was walking on Roberts Road towards Cambridge Street—about four blocks east of Memorial Hall—when she was approached from behind, a Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) advisory said.

The suspect grabbed the student’s rear, said Frank T. Pasquarello, spokesman for the Cambridge Police Department (CPD).

The suspect is described as a white male, approximately 17 years old, with a thin build, brown eyes and moles on his face. He was wearing a light gray sweathirt and fled the scene on a dark-colored mountain bike.

Pasquarello said indecent assaults on bicycle are not unusual for this time of year.

“They happen from time to time, especially when the weather is good,” he said.

He does not believe this groping incident is related to four incidents in January and February of 2004—in which the suspect was also on a bicycle—or the groping incident early Tuesday morning outside of the Harvard Hillel building on Mt. Auburn and Plympton Streets.

In that case, the suspect was on foot. “[The cases] have completely different suspect descriptions,” Pasquarello said.

On Jan. 11, a female undergraduate reported that she had been touched inappropriately in the buttocks by a man on a bike while she was walking near Harvard Hall at 9 p.m.

On Feb. 6, a graduate student reported to CPD that a man on a mountain bike inappropriately grabbed her at about 8:30 p.m. while she was walking on Holyoke Street near 24 Mt. Auburn Street.

After learning of that incident, a second graduate student reported that she was also a victim of indecent assault by a cyclist in Harvard Yard at 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 6.

And on Feb. 12, an undergraduate was groped by a man on a bicycle at the intersection of Mt. Auburn and Story Streets near the post office around 4:30 p.m.

As of April, CPD officials had questioned a suspect they believe is the bicycle rider responsible for the winter gropings, but they did not have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Police interrogated a man on Feb. 12 who matched the description given by the four victims, but none of the victims could provide a positive identification of the suspect, according to a police report.

His description does not match the one of yesterday’s groper.

CPD and the HUPD have deployed both uniformed and plainclothes officers to areas where students frequently travel.

“As always, we encourage students, faculty and staff to be aware of their surroundings,” said Steven G. Catalano, spokesman for HUPD. “We encourage community members to walk in pairs whenever possible, take the shuttle bus, or use the HUCEP escort program. If they have to walk alone, walk along well-traveled routes or on the designated pathways.”

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