Police Warn MIT Pranksters

In response to the theft of a city parking meter by two MIT students, Cambridge police released a warning yesterday to college students that future pranks will not be tolerated.

In the statement, Cambridge Police Detective John F. Conroy and the City of Cambridge said that "pranks bordering on the criminal will be dealt with accordingly."

"I understand that college kids do crazy things, but stealing a meter is a felony that could have been prosecuted...and college students should be warned," Conroy said.

Although criminal prosecution of the students was an option, City Manager Robert W. Healy, George Teso, director of the Cambridge traffic and parking department, and Conroy agreed to "let them go this time," according to Conroy.

The students, both sophomores, agreed to pay $50 for the cost of replacing the meter and to perform eight hours of community service.

Conroy would not release the names of the students involved.

Two security guards first witnessed the crime as they saw the culprits rolling the meter from a 223 Massachusetts Ave. lot on a closed circuit surveillance camera on September 22, according to Officer Gloria Pimitel, a police department spokesperson.

"[The students] must have been working real hard for that meter...It was raining like mad and the meter must have weighed 400 pounds with all that cement on the bottom of it...It was the funniest thing I ever saw," Conroy said.

Conroy speculated that the students removed the cemented meter from the ground with hand-held sledge hammers. He also said he thinks the theft was a part of a fraternity initiation rite.

From the videotape of the security camera, Conroy said he was able to identify the students' fraternity by the emblems on their jackets.

Although he would not release the name of the fraternity, Conroy said that he recognized the students' residence from the cement dust on the risers of the steps. He said that the meter was in the lobby of the fraternity and the students admitted to the crime.