Photos show ‘extensive damage’ to NC school construction site. Students charged, cops say
Spilled paint and broken glass defaced a high school construction site in North Carolina, dramatic photos show.
Five teenagers are facing charges after they caused “extensive damage” to the building, the Concord Police Department said Wednesday.
Red paint was thrown over a balcony and spread across floors at the West Cabarrus High School site, according to pictures the Charlotte-area police department posted last month on Facebook.
Windows, walls and plumbing fixtures were also broken inside the school, which is being built and set to open later this year, officials say. Construction equipment was also damaged, according to Concord officers.
In all, the damage will likely cost more than $100,000, police wrote on Facebook.
Joseph Russell Fusco, 18, was charged with two counts of injury to property and three counts of breaking and entering, all misdemeanors, the news release on Facebook said. He was expected to appear in court Thursday, state records show.
Four of Fusco’s schoolmates at Hickory Ridge High School are also accused of causing damage inside the school, according to officials.
Officers say they are “working with juvenile authorities to obtain charges” for the students, who are 17 years old.
It wasn’t the first time police accused vandals of targeting a North Carolina school.
In May, a senior prank “went too far” and caused about $80,000 in damage to Roanoke Rapids High School, The News & Observer reported.
Police say four 18-year-old students faced felony charges after door locks were shut with super glue and vegetable oil was spilled on floors of the historic building, roughly 90 miles northeast of Raleigh.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Photos show ‘extensive damage’ to NC school construction site. Students charged, cops say."
