Plaster Statue Stolen, Recovered

Harvard police arrested an Allston man who allegedly stole a plaster statue from the room of an Adams House resident early Saturday morning, Chief Paul E. Johnson said yesterday.

Crashing a packed party, Bradley Forsyth, 23, allegedly entered the room of Stephen P. Janiak '96 and took the student's heavy plaster, three-foot model of Michelangelo's statue of David.

Janiak said he had no idea why the thief overlooked the thousands of dollars of computer equipment and CDs he also had in the room and took the "worthless" sculpture, which Janiak said he just kept for kicks. It did not even look valuable, he said, painted gold and sporting a gluedback arm.

"I could make [the same statue] in a VES class and it would be probably worth more," Janiak said.

Janiak took no notice of the suspect, he said, because of the number of people in his room for the party.

Forsyth was stopped and arrested on Bow Street by Harvard University police officer George White, who spotted Forsyth suspiciously carrying the large statue under his coat, according to Johnson.

When asked what he was doing with the statue, Forsyth said that he had been given it at a party at Adams House, Johnson said. White brought the statue back to Janiak, who identified the statue as stolen.

Forsyth was arraigned yesterday at the Middlesex County Courthouse and charged with larceny and trespassing, Johnson said.

Janiak said he is still in disbelief over the incident.

"They must have done it as a joke, or they are really, really stupid," Janiak said.