University
Police responded to a break-in and vandalism on the Appalachian
State University campus last Monday, the second occurrence in one
day. The latest incident took place at the chiller plant currently
under construction in front of the Miles Annas Student Support Building,
University Police said.
“We had some vandalism that occurred there [last] Monday night,”
University Police Sgt. J. Phil Minton said. “Apparently, someone
went in and started beating items with a pipe.”
The incident took place only hours after another break-in at Welborn
Hall. Although police have identified at least two of the suspects
in the Welborn case, no arrests have been made in the chiller plant
case.
“[The perpetrators] must’ve went in through the fence,”
Minton said. “I believe the incident took place between 6 o’clock
Monday night and 7 o’clock Tuesday morning, but we received
a tip that someone saw a couple of people there at 10 o’clock
Monday night.”
“They appeared to take a metal pipe, and they tore down the
temporary power in the building,” said James Henson, an electrical
contractor working on the project. “They also tore up the ground
fault receptacles mounted to the wall and practically destroyed
the scissor lift.
“They also destroyed a metal hay light,” he said. “They
cut all the extension cords. They took a big transformer of ours
and turned it over on the floor but did no damage to it. They also
busted a motor juncture box with a heavy metal box. It looked like
they took a condensate control box and bashed the top of it in.
“It had to be more than one of them, because they turned over
a big filter for chilled water that weighs about 400-500 pounds.
Other than that, they busted a couple of light stands, destroying
those, and took materials and scattered it all over,” he said.
There is no word on a complete estimate of the damages incurred.
“The damages were minor,” project manager Patrick Blevens
said. “Because they damaged only minor things like plastic
covers, we don’t have to reorder any major materials. We only
have to reorder those pieces. It should result in no delay.”
Construction continued the following day as scheduled. Site foreman
Peter Lawson of Bur-Wil Construction refused to comment on the subject.
If anyone has any information that might lead to the capture of
one or more of the perpetrators, they should contact the University
Police at 262-2150.
