Arraignment Set For `Evening' Case

Two former Harvard students indicted for stealing $132,000 raised for children's cancer treatment through an Eliot House ice skating show will be arraigned next week, the district attorney's office announced yesterday.

Charles K. Lee '93, who co-chaired An Evening With Champions in charges of larceny when he is arraigned on August 11, his attorney said yesterday.

David G. Sword '93, a treasurer of the 1991 and 1992 An Evening With Champions shows, will face one charge of larceny.

Sword's lawyer, Robert Canty Sr., is on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

The two are charged with using their positions with An Evening With Champions to steal money intended for the Jimmy Fund, which provides funds for research and treatment of children at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

An Evening With Champions is an annual event featuring Olympic and other world class ice skaters. The event was founded 25 years ago.

Sword and Lee will probably be tried together, said James W. Lawson, Lee's attorney.

Lawson said this procedure is a possibility because of the similar nature of the crimes. He added that he has been in frequent contact with Sword's attorney.

Jill Reilly, a spokesperson for the Middlesex Country district attorney's office, said there would most likely be no bail set for either Lee or Sword.

She said that Mary Beth D. Cassidy, the assistant district attorney prosecuting Lee and Sword, would have no grounds on which to ask for bail if the two show up in court.

"If they appear voluntarily, we have no argument," Reilly said. "Most likely, we won't ask for bail. It's all up to Mary Beth."

The arraignment will be conducted by either a court magistrate or a judge, Reilly said.

Reilly said that there will be a number of pre-trial conferences, "anywhere from four to dozens."

She said the trial could begin at any point in the next six to 18 months.

Lawson again declined to comment on strategies he might employ to defend Lee.

Lawson's client is charged with 58 counts of larceny over $250 and eight counts of larceny under $250.

Lee faces up to five years in prison for each grand larceny count and up to 18 months in prison for the counts of petty larceny.

Lee, known as "Chaz," has been accused of stealing nearly $120,000 meant for the Jimmy Fund.

Sword has been indicted on one count of larceny over $250.

According to a statement from Cassidy, Sword admitted to taking between $10,000 and $12,000.

Sword's mother has denied that her son mentioned any dollar figure.

Canty, who did not return several phone calls, has said that the $12,000 his client is charged with stealing "sounds...high."

A man answering the phone last night at Canty's home said the lawyer is on vacation, "taking some R&R."