First-year Surprises Burglar in Common Room: Matthews Burglarized For 2nd Time in a Week

A first-year student wrestled with a burglar in his Thayer Hall common room early yesterday morning.

And students in at least two suites in Matthews Hall woke up Sunday to discover they had been robbed.

The two separate incidents, part of a series of dorm break-ins over the past week, have led first-year students to call for increased security measures in the Yard.

When Pat B. Donovan '03 returned to his Thayer dorm room at 4 a.m. yesterday, he noticed that the handle was jiggling.

After shoving his door open, Donovan said he came face-to-face with a man standing in the common room.

The burglar, described by Donovan as a 5'10" black male wearing a red felt vest and a dark baseball cap backwards, was carrying a full backpack, which the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) says contained items stolen from other rooms in the Yard dorm.

Donovan asked the robber what he was doing, and he said the robber replied, "I'm here to see Pat."

"No, you're not," Donovan responded. "I'm Pat."

At that point, Donovan grabbed his credit card and his roommate's wallet out of the robber's hand and backed the robber into a bedroom.

The robber then returned the $39 he had taken from Donovan's wallet, saying "that's all I took," Donovan recalled.

Donovan returned to his common room and began dialing the police.

At that point, the burglar lunged for the door, and a scuffle ensued.

Donovan, a member of the heavyweight crew team, said he wrestled the burglar to the floor and yelled for his roommates, who were asleep in the other bedroom.

The burglar stomped on Donovan's bare foot and took off into the hallway.

Donovan's awakened roommate then tackled the burglar, throwing the man into the wall before he escaped down the first-floor hallway, out the middle entryway door and toward Thayer Gate.

"The cops arrived in seconds, and they were all over the place," Donovan said. "I don't know how he escaped."

Donovan spent much of yesterday with HUPD detectives working on a composite drawing.

Given the fact that he recovered everything stolen from his room and no one was seriously hurt, Donovan said, "we lucked out really."

HUPD officials said they are following up on a "solid lead."

Second Time Around

HUPD is also in search of a man who struck Matthews Hall Sunday morning--the second time in a week that the Yard dormitory had been hit.

In a scenario becoming all too familiar to the floor's first-year residents, a burglar entered two unlocked suites at some point during the night and stole several wallets, leaving behind more valuable items, such as laptop computers.

Lily S. Corrigan '03 said she discovered Sunday morning that her wallet was missing.

"It's a personal attack," Corrigan said. "Someone was in here."

Students on the fourth and fifth floors said they are scared by the rash of break-ins, adding that they are becoming suspicious of their fellow students.

"We're really paranoid," Corrigan said.

HUPD officers said they do not believe the Matthews break-ins are connected to the break-in at Thayer, but a single perpetrator may have committed the two incidents on the same floor in Matthews.

One police official said they are looking for a man convicted of breaking into Matthews a couple of years ago, who is now out of jail.

"If I ever meet the person who did this..." Corrigan said, her voice trailing off.

Security Concerns

An angry editorial in last week's Harvard Independent written by one of last week's burglary victims, Jordan R. Berkow '03, took the University administration to task for not doing enough to make students aware of the security issues surrounding Matthews and other Yard dorms.

"First-years...come - and rightly so - with the assumption that they will be safe sleeping in their beds at night," Berkow wrote in the editorial. "Clearly, this assumption is wrong."

Berkow's opinion is spreading in Matthews, where students expressed anger about the break-ins yesterday.

Several victims said they have asked for self-locking locks on their doors.

"I'd rather be locked out than risk having my door open to the world," said Corrigan's roommate, Eileen M. Walker '03.

Students in Matthews said police told them that plainclothes officers might begin patrolling the hallways of the dorm in the future.

Chief Francis "Bud" Riley said thieves are aware of the special vulnerabilities that the beginning of the school year presents.

"People know that the beginning of the school year is a good time to rip [students] off," he said.

Students aren't yet familiar with their neighbors and therefore less likely to confront an unknown face in the hallway, said Riley, who advises all students to lock their doors.

Anyone with any information about any of the burglaries is asked to call HUPD at 5-1215.