SANATOGA PA – Lower Pottsgrove police say they are preparing to charge three persons for their alleged involvement in acts of vandalism earlier this month and during July at Pottsgrove High School, Kauffman Road, Pottstown.
Pottsgrove High School, Kauffman Road, as seen from the north.
Chief Michael Foltz, in a Wednesday (Aug. 29, 2012) e-mail, reported his officers “have identified the actors in the ongoing vandalisms and arson” that occurred Aug. 15, Aug. 12, July 28 and July 10 at high school sports facilities. Charges have not yet been officially filed, he explained, because some information regarding the cases is still being processed.
Once charges are ready, however, Foltz indicated his department and Pottsgrove School District officials will coordinate a live “joint press briefing” for print, online, and broadcast media to announce results of the investigations and dramatically underscore the seriousness of the crimes. That could be held before week’s end or early next week, but probably no later than Sept. 5, he said.
In the latest and most spectacular of the events, Foltz’s officers and both the Sanatoga and Ringing Hill fire companies responded Aug. 15 to a fire that police said was “intentionally set” in the southwest corner of the high school stadium facing School Lane, where several wooden pallets were stored. No structures were involved, no injuries reported, and crews quickly extinguished the blaze.
On the same day, according to police, a separate utility shed inside the stadium also was targeted. Perpetrators reportedly forced their way into the shed, vandalized the interior, and threw items around inside and outside onto the football field.
Additionally, sometime overnight between Aug. 12 and 13, school officials said an aluminum bench and soccer goals at the high school were found badly damaged in the wooded area that lines the soccer field there. The goals themselves were rendered unusable, Foltz said, and must be replaced at a cost of about $1,200 each.
On July 28, police officers patrolling the high school exterior discovered a wooden door had been ripped off the football equipment storage shed. Several footballs were removed and thrown into the field, and trash can lids had been tossed on the roof of the building.
On July 10, police responded to a report of vandalism on the high school’s softball fields that included equipment shed damage, equipment removed and thrown on top of nearby batting cages, and soccer goals up-ended.
It is unknown whether suspects will be charged in connection with one, several, or all of the incidents.
Related:
- Charges Reported Pending In High School Vandalism
- Vandals Set Fire To Pallets At ‘Grove Football Stadium
- Pottsgrove High Attacked Again; Soccer Goals Damaged
Good police work. Look forward to the follow up on this.