Police Arrest Man in Stolen Vehicle

Harvard Police arrested a Jamaica Plains man near the Medical School early Tuesday morning after he drove past two officers who recognized his car as a stolen vehicle, Harvard Police Chief Paul E. Johnson said yesterday.

John W. Patterson, 30, of Lamar-tine St. was charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, possession of burglarious tools and possession of what police believe to be crack-cocaine.

According to Johnson, the suspect was driving the stolen vehicle, a black 1988 American Jeep Cherokee, eastbound on Tremont St.

As the Cherokee passed the officers' patrol car, which was stopped at a traffic light, Officers Kevin Harrington and Kevin McCarthy noticed that its front vent window was broken, a common indication of a stolen vehicle, Johnson said.

The officers checked the license plate number of the vehicle and were told by the State Police that the car had been stolen four days earlier in Boston, Johnson said.

The officers pursued Patterson and stopped his car on Prentiss St. Patterson was placed under arrest and brought to the Roxbury-Mattapan Division of the Boston Police Department for booking, the chief said.

The Boston Police Department ceded jurisdiction of the case to the Harvard University Police Department, Johnson said.

During a search of Patterson after his arrest, the police officers found, in his inner shirt pocket, a "small green plastic bag with a small white rock-like substance," which they believe to be crack-cocaine, Johnson said. Lab tests are being conducted to determine the exact nature of the substance.

Patterson was arraigned yesterday and did not post the $500 bail, an official at the Suffolk County District Attorney's office said yesterday.

An official at the Suffolk County Jail confirmed yesterday that Patterson is being held there.

Patterson will remain in jail until his pre-trial conference, which is scheduled for February 21, Johnson said.