Police last week spotted a student in the bushes with a bust of John Harvard.
A Harvard first-year was stopped by police officers after stealing the plaster bust of John Harvard, valued at $250, from the Freshman Union fireplace as a prank in the early hours of Tuesday morning, police said yesterday.
Harvard security guard Mike DeFazio said he saw the student moving about in the bushes near the entrance to Widener Library. The student looked as if he was hiding something suspicious, the guard told the Harvard University police.
Police officers found the student on the steps to the left of the Pusey Library at about 3:30 a.m., struggling with a large object draped in a garbage bag, police said.
Police said they asked the student what he had been doing by the Widener bushes earlier. The student told the officers that he had taken the bust of John Harvard from the Fresh-man Union and had been trying to take a picture of it, police said.
The student said he stole the bust on a bet with a friend for $100, according to police.
When asked how he had gotten into the building, the student said he had climbed through an open window. From there, he went into the dining hall and removed the bust, he told the officers.
Police went to the Union and found the window open. Pieces of plaster matching the bust were found around the fireplace, police said. They did not say whether the bust had been damaged.
After questioning the student, the The student was not arrested, police officerssaid, but was told that he would receive a summonsin the mail to appear in court if theadministration chose to seek a criminal complaint. Deans of the college have been notified aboutthe incident, police said. Associate Dean ofFreshman W. C. Burriss Young '55 declined tocomment last night on the status of the student,citing student confidentiality. The bust was tagged as evidence and kept in thepolice station last week, police said. It was backin its place on the fireplace yesterday
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