Three former students at Bonny Eagle High School were arrested and charged Tuesday with breaking into the Standish school and causing widespread destruction during a vandalism spree that took place during the early morning hours.
The destruction was so severe that school officials were forced to cancel classes on Tuesday. Bonny Eagle High School will reopen on Wednesday.
Charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief were Cullen Dumbrocyo, 19, of Standish; Ronny Head, 18, of Buxton; and Jonathan Betancourt, 18, of Standish. Betancourt’s bail was set at $500 while bail was denied for the other suspects.
Lt. Donald Foss of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspects in a press release issued Tuesday night.
“It should be noted that this incident has no apparent connection to and was not motivated by the recent events involving the school district, the superintendent, and his family,” Foss said in the release.
Foss said investigators spent the day following up on leads and examining footage from surveillance cameras at the school.
The sheriff’s office sent deputies to the school complex on Saco Road in Standish around 1:56 a.m. Tuesday to investigate an alarm that had been triggered. Upon arrival, the deputies discovered that there had been a forced entry into the building.
School officials said the intruders broke into the building through a roof hatch in the school’s new wing.
The vandals started by destroying items in the new teachers’ room, the school officials said in a news release. The contents of a refrigerator were dumped on the floor and smashed.
The vandals then moved to the third floor of the old building and released fire extinguishers into the stairwell on the Saco River side of the building.
After that, they moved into the cafeteria and smashed the window on a new Snapple vending machine before dumping the contents in the hallways and cafeteria.
“This all happened in a very short period of time,” the news release said. “Our alarm activated once the individual(s) entered the hallway from the new wing teacher’s room.”
School officials said there apparently was no other damage to the building and nothing appears to have been stolen. They did not provide an estimate of how much the cleanup will cost.
“This is simply an act of vandalism for the sake of vandalism,” the news release said. “Unfortunately, because the walls have to be hand cleaned to remove all the dust that was released from the fire extinguishers and all of the food and beverage products dumped in the building, it will take the day to get this cleaned up and the building made safe for students to return.”
School officials said the roof hatches and all access points to the building were being inspected and resecured Tuesday.
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