Quincy Thief Identified

The knife-wielding intruder who broke into a Quincy House dorm room on Sunday night is a 40-year-old convicted rapist who was previously arrested for breaking into Mather House in October 2005, according to the police log posted online by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).

Ronald R. Vick of Brighton, Mass. was convicted of rape in April 1991, according to the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board (MSORB).

Vick is classified as a Level 3 Sex Offender, according to the MSORB, which is defined as an individual for whom the “risk of reoffense is high and the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a substantial public safety interest is served by active dissemination.”

Level 3 is the board’s most serious classification.

In 2005, two Mather residents called HUPD after they observed the 6’ 3” Vick acting suspiciously on the third floor of Mather House. A check of his record by HUPD revealed three outstanding warrants against him, and he was charged him with trespassing and breaking and entering in the daytime with the intent of theft.

In accordance with Massachusetts policy, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office (DA) declined to comment on whether Vick has served prison time for the 1991 rape or the 2005 Mather House charge.

After breaking into Quincy this Sunday, Vick was chased by Justin M. Craig ’07 and Matthew P. Downer ’07—both Quincy House residents—to Peabody Terrace, where he was found by officers “sitting on the floor of a room with a knife.”

HUPD officers placed Vick under arrest, charging him with four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and breaking and entering with the intent to commit a felony, according to the log.

Those charges were reduced to two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count of breaking and entering, according to a spokeswoman for the DA.

Vick’s pre-trial hearing is scheduled for June 5, the DA spokeswoman said.

The incident has left Quincy residents questioning the safety of their house.

“After the event, students were concerned and some even wanted their locks changed,” said Resident Tutor Michael B. Keating, who lives two doors down from the room Vick broke into on Sunday.

Keating said that the consensus among students was that Vick had been able to do so by taking advantage of a broken fire door, but Acting House Master Lee Gehrke wrote in an e-mail statement that house officials are not sure how Vick was able to enter the room.

While the fire doors were checked at the beginning of the year and over winter break, the level of security will now be stepped up, according to Gehrke.

“The building manager will now do a weekly sweep to be certain that the fire doors are secure and cannot be opened from the stairwell,” he wrote.

HUPD declined to answer questions about Vick on Monday beyond what was posted on its online police log.

—Staff writer Paras D. Bhayani can be reached at pdbhayani@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Noah S. Bloom can be reached at nsbloom@fas.harvard.edu.