Thief Pleads Guilty To Harvard Robberies

A man accused of breaking into three Harvard buildings last July plead guilty Friday to stealing driver's licenses and cash.

Wayne Clark had earlier plead "not guilty" to charges of larceny of a license, possesion of a stolen license and breaking and entering in the daytime, but changed his plea on Friday.

Clark's change of plea was the result of an agreement his attorney reached with the District Attorney's Office. Clark agreed to plead guilty on condition that he receive a sentence of two years and eight months at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Hiller Zobel '53 explained to Clark that he was waiving his rights to trial before a judge or jury by entering a guilty plea. The defendant said he was making his decision freely and willingly and acknowledged to Zobel that he committed the crimes.

Zobel, who heard the plea Friday, postponed sentencing to a later date. Should the judge find the sentence too light, Clark will have the opportunity to change his plea back to not guilty.

Assistant District Attorney George Murphy said Clark began his July 6, 1988, "escapade" in Harvard Yard. Murphy said Jason Wilcox, who was living in Canaday at the time, awoke around 4:30 p.m. to find a man standing in his room. The man left and Wilcox later found that his keys and some of his money had been stolen, he said.

While Harvard police were speaking to Wilcox, they received a call from a woman at Gannett Hall on Mass. Ave., the prosecutor said. Responding to that call, police heard a similar story about a man rifling a person's wallet, he said.

The third incident occurred minutes later at 51 Brattle Street, he said. According to a witness, a man wandered through the building asking for a "Carol Hingle." No such person was known to the building's occupants, Murphy said.

Police found Clark crouched under a stairwell in the Brattle Street building, he said. "On him were Jason Wilcox's keys," Murphy said, adding that police also found the licenses of two women on Clark's person.