Can Stealer to Face Hearing

The man arrested for stealing recyclable goods from Winthrop House two weeks ago will face a pretrial hearing in early January, Police Chief Paul E. Johnson said yesterday.

On December 3, a plainclothes Harvard Police officer saw Warren L. Sparks, 63, enter Winthrop House and then walk out with about 10 bags of cans and bottles.

Sparks was arrested for breaking and entering, trespassing, larceny and possession of burglaring tools, according to Lt. Edward Sheridan.

Winthrop officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In a similar case, Sparks appeared before the Middlesex Clerk of Courts December 15 and agreed to pay $30 restitution to the can collection drive based at the Harvard Cyclotron at 44 Oxford St.

Sparks was caught stealing cans at the Cyclotron laboratory in September, said Eliot Hammerman, a machinist who runs the can drive at the Cyclotron.

Hammerman said Sparks grabbed two bags being loaded outside the laboratory and quickly escaped in a blue pickup truck.

He did not, however, escape the notice of recycling volunteers, who recorded the truck's New Hampshire license plates and alerted the police.

Hammerman said he believes Sparks does "not warrant sympathy." He said Sparks has been "hitting us right along" and may have stolen $500 of cans from his project alone.

But Kirsty L. Goodwin '93, who co-ordinates recycling programs in the houses, said yesterday that loss of cans from theft has not been a major problem recently.

"This year things are more organized, and these problems are not too bad," Goodwin said.

Harvard's recycling program in the houses delivers waste products to Boston Can, a charitable organization which helps the homeless.