After a student's drunken raid on his 21st birthday last summer and a suspected break-in by two juveniles earlier this month, Penn State Police said it's "hard to say" if the Lasch Building is a target for crime.
Two 17-year-old Massachusetts boys broke into the football complex March 6, stealing a Nike warm-up jacket, a Penn State T-shirt, a Penn State baseball cap and an autographed football, police said. This comes eight months after Penn State student Daniel J. Costenbader caused $5,000 worth of damage to the building in July, police said.
"I think in this latest incident, I think they clearly chose there because it was a football facility," Penn State Police Capt. Bill Moerschbacher said. "The one last summer, that was a drunk person being drunk."
In July, police responded to a call from Costenbader, saying a fight was in progress in Holuba Hall, police said.
But when officers arrived at the scene, all they found was a broken window at the Lasch Building, police said.
Once inside, police discovered an intoxicated Costenbader -- wearing only jeans and a Penn State football helmet, police said.
Costenbader, who registered a 0.18 percent blood-alcohol content, told police he didn't remember much about being inside the building, but admitted to breaking a window after jumping a fence to the adjacent practice field, police said.
He was charged with burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and public drunkenness, according to court documents.
Costenbader was placed on Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition in December. While the birthday escapade thrust Costenbader into the spotlight, the Lasch Building has always been well-known in the local community, Moerschbacher said.
"It's a place that gets attention in the Centre region, there's no doubt about it," Moerschbacher said.
But for the boys from Massachusetts, whose names could not be released because they are minors, Lasch was just the start of their weekend hijinks, police said.
They were in town for the Big Ten wrestling tournament and returned to campus Saturday and entered Beaver Stadium, police said.
That's when they came across a university-owned ATV, police said.
The juveniles drove the ATV out of the stadium, left it in a nearby parking lot and watched a wrestling match, police said.
Next, they stole bicycles and rode them to their hotel, the Hampton Inn, 1101 E. College Ave., police said.
On a final trip to campus, they stole more bicycles, loading them into the ATV and driving back to the hotel, police said.
An off-duty police officer spotted the duo and they were later arrested and collectively charged with burglary, criminal conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal trespass, unauthorized use of an automobile, criminal mischief and drug- and alcohol-related charges, police said.
The two were held at the Central Counties Youth Center, an anti-climatic ending to a weekend that began with the Lasch break-in. Whether it's a target for crime or not, police will be keeping an eye on the building that has attracted more attention than they'd prefer.
"Every time these incidents happen, we do take a look at them from a lot of different perspectives," Moerschbacher said. "We've had two incidents in two years, more than we would like, certainly."
