Suspect Could Face 5 Years in Jail

The 18-year-old Cambridge man arrested for attempting to rob an undergraduate outside Kirkland House last month appeared in court for the first time yesterday, maintaining his innocence at a pre-trial hearing in which he faces up to five years in prison.

Ernest A. Pellegrini was arrested on Jan. 24, along with two minors, when a male undergraduate called police to report that three masked males had trailed him to the entrance of Kirkland House and demanded that he give them his money.

The victim then “immediately swiped into the building” and escaped the incident unharmed, according to Harvard University Police Department Spokesman Steven G. Catalano.

Pellegrini appeared relaxed at his pre-trial conference in Cambridge District Court yesterday morning, chatting and joking with other defendants in the courtroom.

After the hearing, Pellegrini, who spent seven nights in jail before posting bail, told The Crimson that he maintains his innocence, recalling a different series of events than police reports indicate.

“We were just talking,” he said of the incident. “We got into a confrontation with this guy, and it ended up with us calling him a monkey and him calling us ‘faggots.’ The whole thing started when we really just said, "'What’s up.’”

“Then we were just walking down the street when all of a sudden the cops picked us up,” said Pellegrini, who is five feet, eight inches tall and weighs 230 pounds. “I didn’t even commit a crime—I was charged with attempting to commit a crime—and it landed me seven days in jail.”

According to court records, Pellegrini also served time in prison in June 2005 after being charged with assault and battery—“small charges,” he said yesterday.

Two witnesses told The Crimson earlier this month that they saw three individuals outside Kirkland around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the robbery attempt.

Evan W. Eachus ’08 said he and his friends walked into Kirkland and saw “three guys in camo with hoods” who began yelling derogatory slurs at Eachus and his friends.

The three males yelled “homo” and “nigger” at the students, said M. Aidan Kelly ’08, a Crimson associate magazine editor who was with Eachus at the time.

But outside the courtroom yesterday, Pellegrini disputed this story.

“[The student] started yelling obscenities towards us,” Pellegrini said. “So we as kids started yelling back. I think it was a whole childish thing.”

According to Middlesex District Attorney spokeswoman Melissa Sherman, Pellegrini’s next court date is March 13, when he is due to appear for another pre-trial hearing.

The two minors who were arrested with Pellegrini are expected in court for their first pre-trial hearing on March 15. One of the minors was also charged with the possession of a BB gun. Police said that the gun wasn’t used to commit the crime and was only found by officers after the incident.

—Staff writer Reed B. Rayman can be reached at rrayman@fas.harvard.edu.