Campus Alert Archive
MIT

Five Reports, One Lap Pool: MIT's Crime Alert for Indecent Assaults on Children at Zesiger

MAsexual offensetimely warninghigh confidence
Under Investigation

On July 24, 2024, between approximately 7:30 AM EDT and 8:50 AM EDT, five children under age 14 reported being indecently assaulted while swimming in the lap pool at MIT's Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center. MIT Police received the third-party report at 12:57 PM EDT on July 25, 2024, and issued a Clery timely warning the same day.

Alerts
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Response
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Institution
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Private R1 · MA
~11,500 studentsMIT Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Verified verbatimMIT Police — Crime Alerts & Timely Warnings1177 chars
MIT Police Timely Warning – Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child Under the age of 14 On July 25, 2024 at 12:57 p.m., the MIT Police received a report regarding five (5) incidents of Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child under the age of 14 that were reported to have occurred on July 24, 2024 between 7:30 a.m. and 8:50 a.m., while the victims were swimming in the lap pool at the Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center. The MIT Police Department is actively investigating these reports with the assistance of the Cambridge Police Department. Description of the Suspect: Information regarding the suspect is currently being gathered and will be shared with the community as appropriate. Resources: Violence Prevention & Response (VPR) is the primary, confidential, on-campus resource for issues pertaining to sexual assault, stalking, sexual harassment, and domestic/dating violence. VPR can be reached 24/7 at (617) 253-2300. Anyone with information regarding these incidents is encouraged to contact the MIT Police at (617) 253-1212. This Timely Warning is issued in accordance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.
Five separate incidents within an 80-minute window in the same pool — extreme clustering that almost certainly indicates a single suspect
Children under 14 are an unusual victim category for campus Clery alerts because they are typically community members (summer programs, family of affiliates) rather than students
Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center is open to MIT affiliates and their guests, including children of staff and faculty — placing this incident squarely in MIT's Clery geography
The legal label 'Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child Under 14' is Massachusetts statutory language (M.G.L. c. 265, § 13B), not a generic campus phrase
MIT Police received the report on July 25 at 12:57 PM and issued the timely warning the same day — well within Clery's 'as soon as pertinent information is available' standard
VPR resource line is included even for this non-student-victim case — MIT's standard practice
Context

Background

MIT's Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center is open not only to MIT students, faculty, and staff but also to affiliates and their guests — including children participating in summer programming or accompanying parents to the gym. This July 2024 timely warning is unusual in the Clery Act corpus because the victims are not university students: five children under age 14 reported being indecently assaulted within an 80-minute window in the lap pool. The legal label MIT uses — 'Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child Under the age of 14' — is the precise Massachusetts statutory phrasing rather than a generic campus euphemism. The case demonstrates two underdiscussed Clery dynamics: first, that on-campus geography includes recreational facilities open to non-students; and second, that 'continuing threat' under the timely-warning standard can apply to a perpetrator who has already victimized multiple people if their identity remains unknown — making the warning a forward-looking community-protection tool rather than a backward-looking statistical disclosure.
Analysis

Key Findings

On-campus Clery geography includes recreational facilities open to non-students (children, guests, affiliates)
Five separate reports within an 80-minute window suggests a single perpetrator and acute continuing-threat conditions
MIT uses precise Massachusetts statutory language ('Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child Under 14') rather than generic phrasing
Timely warning issued within hours of MIT Police receiving the report — fast Clery turnaround
VPR resource information is included even when victims are not students — MIT's standard practice
Cases involving child victims are uncommon in campus Clery archives but legally identical in their notification requirements
Outcome
Suspect not identified at time of alert. Investigation ongoing through MIT Police, Cambridge Police, and Massachusetts authorities given victims' ages.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    MIT Police — Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child Under the age of 14
    police.mit.edu
  2. Official
    MIT Police Crime Alerts & Timely Warnings index
    police.mit.edu
  3. Clery ASR
    MIT Annual Security and Fire Safety Report 2024
    police.mit.edu
Tags
sexual-offenseindecent-assaulttimely-warningprivate-r1child-victimrecreational-facilitynon-student-victimcambridgeUnder Investigation
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion