Posted on 02/09/2010 4:11:21 PM PST by real saxophonist
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
‘Prank' lands UNC student in stinky mess
Teen arrested for porch fire
Sharon Dunn
An apparent prank gone bad put a Greeley college student in jail early Sunday.
Greeley police arrived at a home in the 1100 block of Cranford Place to find a homeowner detaining Andrew Charles Donahue, 18, who he accused of leaving a burning bag of dog feces on his front porch.
“We don't know, but we assume it was a prank,” said Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych. Donahue is a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado.
The suspect — others may have been involved, as well — apparently had left a burning bag of dog feces on the doorstep of the home owned by E. Wayne Pickens.
Tymkowych said Pickens was awakened after 4 a.m. to the sound of his doorbell. He opened the door to find a bag that was burning on his front steps. He noticed the flames going out, so he decided to wait to see if the culprit returned.
Donahue returned, apparently to re-light the bag, but this time, Pickens stopped him in his tracks. He called police around 4:30 a.m.
“He goes back up on the porch and is confronted by Mr. Pickens, who detained him for us,” Tymkowych said. “There was a struggle, and Mr. Pickens got minor injuries.”
Tymkowych said Donahue was attempting to re-light the fire; police recovered matches at the scene. Tymkowych said there were likely others involved in the incident, but Donahue was the only person caught.
Police do not yet have a motive for the incident, Tymkowych said. He added that Pickens had recently called in a noise complaint on some of his student neighbors, but he wasn't sure if Donahue was one of those neighbors.
Nobody answered the door at the Pickens home Monday, but the fire left about a foot-wide stain in the carpet in front of the screen door on the raised porch.
Donahue was arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, third-degree assault and possession of alcohol by a minor. He was taken to Weld County Jail early Sunday morning, and posted a $15,000 bond Monday morning. Formal charges are expected Feb. 16.
The arson charge alone is a felony, punishable by four to 12 years in prison at most, while the remainder are misdemeanors. The alcohol charge is a petty offense.
“When you start setting people's front porches on fire, it's a bit dangerous,” Tymkowych said.
Nate Haas, spokesman for UNC, said students are subject to disciplinary actions at the college for off-campus behavior but consequences are dealt on a case-by-case basis.
it’s Greeley, with a liberal arts marshmallow college.
The kid’ll get a slap on the tallywacker
Now if he’d done some really SERIOUS, like uttering a politically incorrect phrase, that would really get him kicked out.
I am guessing it was a concrete porch, if so arson is a little too much.
Dumb kid... NEVER return to the scene of a crime!!
First lesson I taught my kids when they asked if they could go out causin trouble...
It always was when we did it!
what about the dog? shouldnt he be arrested as well, i mean.... just saying.
Rookies.
These kids today, I'll tell ya...
dummer than boxes of rocks!... lol...
?????????????????????
Don’t all kids try this old chestnut at least once????
I mean its a burning bag of dog doooo.....it is up there with ‘prince albert in a can’ and ‘is your refrigerator running’.
Should have taped an M-80 with a cigarette fuse to the guys window !
No matter what tricks I tried, my dogs refused to crap in a paper bag.
When I was a kid growing up in New Orleans in the late 1940’s, this was a regular and common Haloween “trick or treat” event. Putting cement in the school door locks was also the thing to do.
When I was a kid growing up in New Orleans in the late 1940’s, this was a regular and common Haloween “trick or treat” event. Putting cement in the school door locks was also the thing to do.
After reading the thread about the snowball throwers getting charged with felonies, I thought I'd post this one.
Seriously, is this kid slow or something? Eighteen? We did that when we were about twelve.
In the kid’s defense, he lives in Greeley. Greeley just bores you out of your mind until something like this happens. This is actually normal, and the only thing abnormal about it from a long term Greeley resident was that it is pretty lame, considering the amount of empty time you have to plan these things out when you are in Greeley. Even I have pulled better stunts in Greeley.
Ya think?!
Police do not yet have a motive for the incident, Tymkowych said.
Whatever these cops are making it's way too much.
Enquiring minds, want to know - were any animals harmed because of this prank? The homeowner should call PETA.
That's just plain funny.
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