Student Indicted for Stealing Gems From Harvard Museum

A Middlesex Country grand jury on Thursday indicted a Harvard Extension School student for stealing between $50,000 and $100,000 in gems from the Harvard Mineralogical Museum.

James Arthur Hogue, a convicted felon, was charged with two counts of larceny of greater than $250, and one count of receiving stolen property, according to Jill Reilly, a spokesperson for the Middlesex Country District Attorney's Office.

Assistant District Attorney Mary Beth Cassidy, who is the prosecutor in the case, said Hogue could face a sentence of up to 15 years if convicted on all three charges, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years. Hogue will be represented by a public defender, Reilly said.

Hogue, who was arraigned on similar charges on Somerville court on May 12, will be arraigned on the felony counts within two weeks, according to a press release from the district attorney's office. The Somerville charges will be dismissed at that time, Cassidy said.

Upon completion of the case in Massachusetts, Hogue may be extradited to New Jersey, where he remains a fugitive from justice for a parole violation on a 1992 larceny conviction.

Hogue, who has complied a long arrest record and several aliases, was arrested by Harvard police on May 11 following the execution of a search warrant at his apartment at 82 Marion St. in Somerville.

During that search, police recovered numerous gems, mineral samples, a microscope and other items which had been missing over the past nine months from the Harvard museum. The recovery was one of the largest in the history of the Harvard University Police Department, according to Lt. John F. Rooney.

On may 26, Harvard police returned to Hogue's Somerville apartment and recovered $600 in electronic equipment reported stolen from Roscom, a New Jersey electronics firm where Hogue worked in the summer of 1992.

Police believe Hogue left New Jersey as a fugitive shortly after working at Roscom.

In February of 1992, Hogue pleaded guilty to theft by deception for falsely collecting $22,000 in financial aid from Princeton University by assuming the personality of another student.

Hogue is currently being held in the Cambridge Jail on $10,000 cash bail. Felony cases are typically heard in Middlesex Country Superior Court, Reilly said.