Vandalism leaves its mark in Boulder

What seemed like an average night for Juanita’s employees turned to chaos at closing time.

Loud pops echoed through the restaurant at 1043 Pearl St. on Oct. 5 at 2:57 a.m., when two CU students threw rocks into the restaurant’s $550 window, according to a Boulder Police report.

Junior architecture major Alex Pieper, 23, and senior architecture major Dylan Armstrong, 21, were arrested and charged with criminal mischief, which is a class four felony, for vandalizing the Mexican restaurant.

The two students were drinking at the bar earlier that night, and when they were asked to leave at closing, they refused. The doorman forced them out and the trouble appeared to be over.

Pieper and Armstrong returned with large rocks and threw them at the front window.

When the doorman heard the noise, he ran to the front and chased the two men down Pearl Street, holding one of them to the ground until police arrived.

The men were arrested by police who said these two students were confronted by police earlier that night when they didn’t leave the facility. The students were drinking, belligerent and being “verbally antagonistic,” according to the report.

The incidents involving these students were released to judicial affairs at CU. The men could face academic punishment.

The case is still active. Arresting officers, judicial affair officials and Juanita’s management could not be contacted for comment.

In another incident, shards of glass covered a child’s bed on Oct. 2 after vandals broke through the window above the bed at a home on the 5400 block of Omaha Place in east Boulder. The child was not in the room at the time, according to a Boulder Police press release.

Houses being egged, trees being papered and cars being broken into are common crimes that have been occurring in this suburban neighborhood since July, and juveniles are believed to be the suspects, said Julie Brooks, the Boulder Police Department’s public information officer.

“Because of the initial activity, eggings and papering that you don’t normally see 25-year-old vandals doing, we believe they are juveniles,” Brooks said. “We do believe they are related because of where they are happening.”

Media attention on this specific incident was high because crime is “rare in this area because it is quiet and well-established,” Brooks said.

This investigation is ongoing and the victims are not speaking to the media.

Vandalism in Boulder can be an issue just like in any college town, and is especially prominent near campus, the Hill and downtown. Graffitti on bike paths and under passes is most common, but there has been a rapid progression of other vandal activity like car break-ins and thefts, which is the second most common crime, Brooks said.

Since school started in late August, there have been 195 vandalism cases reported to the Boulder Police. In 2005 there was a total of 1,112 cases.

Police ask that everyone take an active role in reporting suspicious activity and vandalism in action, and they ask residents to call 911 if anyone’s safety is at risk.