Harassment hearing postponed

A preliminary hearing for a man accused of sexually harassing a woman in Van Pelt Library earlier this month was postponed yesterday morning.

The hearing, which determines whether the case will go to trial, was rescheduled to Aug. 9 because the victim didn't appear in court.

Eber Devine, 38, of the 1700 block of North Lambert Street in North Philadelphia, is facing eight counts relating to the July 3 incident, in which he allegedly cornered Aleshia Endy, of Conshohocken, in a third-floor study room in Van Pelt while supposedly interviewing her for a job in a modeling agency that he said he owned. She then said he groped her and made inappropriate comments about her appearance.

Neither are currently affiliated with Penn.

Endy found an advertisement for the position on a craigslist.com posting.

According to the police report of the incident, Endy entered Van Pelt at about 10 a.m. that morning.

She presented a photo ID to guards at the front desk to gain access to the building - members of the public have access to the library most weekdays if they show identification.

Devine, however, presented a Penn alumni card to guards to gain access to the library, she said, adding that Devine showed her and another woman the card during their interviews to explain why he chose the University as a site to conduct his interviews.

This was confirmed in the police report, which indicated that the card had been revoked several months prior to the incident, indicating that Devine must have shown the guards his card rather than swiped it.

According to the report, Det. Leslie Hand of Penn Police told Philadelphia Special Victims Unit that "Devine was never supposed to have been issued this card as he was never an [alumnus] in the first place."

The report goes on to say that Det. Timothy Mayer of SVU called up Hand to confirm this on July 10, which she did, adding that "Mr. Devine signs up for classes and then drops them after he obtains an ID card."

Several University officials repeatedly refused to confirm the accuracy of the police report, though University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman said that Devine, because he took classes at Penn, was eligible for an alumni card.

The College of General Studies confirmed that Devine was a student there during the spring of 1999 and was in the bachelor of arts degree program. He left Penn the following semester.

Holtzman added that the card was "since deactivated . as a result of his misuse of the card" and said that Penn was looking into whether "more stringent practices" for the issuance of Penn alumni cards should be instituted.

Currently, anyone who has taken classes at Penn is allowed to apply for a card.

Devine, who is in jail, couldn't be reached for comment.

He is currently being represented by the Philadelphia Public Defender, though a specific lawyer hasn't yet been assigned to him and thus wasn't available for comment.

Devine is being held on $2,000 bail and is facing counts of criminal trespass, burglary, indecent assault, simple assault and other related offenses.

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