Man pretended to be Stanford student, lived on campus for nearly a year in elaborate hoax

STANFORD, Calif. — A man pretended to be a student and lived in several Stanford University dorms for at least 10 months, a university official said Tuesday.

The university's Department of Public Safety cited William Curry for violating the law the first time he was found living in a dorm in December 2021, but that didn't deter him, Stanford spokeswoman Dee Mostofi said in a statement.

Since then, campus police officers have obtained multiple stay-away letters, a prerequisite to citing someone for trespass on campus, but they weren't able to locate the Alabama native until last Thursday, when they gave him a stay-away letter and removed him from campus, Mostofi said.

She said the university has protocols and policies to prevent non-students from entering and living in the dorms, but that the man's "persistence and ability to ingratiate himself with our student community has made it clear that gaps exist in those protocols."

The Stanford Daily reported Monday that the man had been living in a dorm's basement when police found him last week and that he had lived in at least five dorms.

Several sources told The Daily, Stanford's student newspaper, that Curry harassed multiple students and was repeatedly removed from campus only to immediately return.

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Some staff in individual dorms were notified of the man's presence, but "there were no broad communications about him to all Stanford residences," Mostofi said.

She said the university will review its procedures to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Mostofi didn't provide any other information or answer questions emailed to her.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This article originally appeared on Salinas Californian: Pretend Stanford student lived in dorms, college basement for months