In his bail hearing on Jan. 27, a police officer testified that Ramos had admitted to groping three to four women a week over the past five or six months. He was released on $1,000 cash bail on the conditions that he surrender his passport and stay away from the Harvard campus. Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Emily J. LaGrassa said that Ramos has failed to appear in court for recent hearings, probably because he remains in the custody of immigration officials.

In response to Ramos’ arrest, Harvard is now requiring criminal background checks on all security and custodial contractors, including the outsourced ones.

Also in April, CPD Superintendent Michael D. Giacoppo said that Ramos, referred to in the police report as an illegal alien from Colombia, will be prosecuted and may face deportation.

But even after Ramos’ arrest, three more bicycle gropings hit campus.

A graduate student reported to CPD that she was inappropriately grabbed on Feb. 6 at about 8:30 p.m. while walking on Holyoke Street near 24 Mt. Auburn Street.

CPD spokesperson Frank D. Pasquarello said an unidentified male, pushing a mountain bicycle, approached the victim from the opposite direction, grabbed her and fled on his bicycle.

After learning of that incident, a second graduate student reported that she was also assaulted in Harvard Yard at 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 6.

And on Feb. 12, an undergraduate was groped by a man on a bicycle at the intersection of Mt. Auburn and Story Streets near the post office at around 4:30 p.m.

As of April, CPD officials said they had questioned a suspect they believe is the bicycle rider responsible for a series of local gropings, but they did not have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Police interrogated a man on Feb. 12 who matched the description given by the four victims, but none of the victims could provide a positive identification of the suspect, according to a police report.

But officials noted that no additional assaults have been reported since the man was questioned.

HARVARD STRIKES BACK

In response to the wave of indecent assaults this year, HUPD took a “three-prong approach,” according to HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano.

It increased officer presence on the streets, communicated with other University and city agencies and—in conjunction with the College—started a new walking escort program.

The wave of indecent assaults caught the attention and focus of HUPD.