Three teenagers are facing multiple charges after vandalizing construction equipment, Utica police said.
“It’s pretty devastating,” Clark Nickles, owner of Clark Nickles Inc., a construction and demolition company, said. “I mean, I’ve been in business 60 or 70 years. And it’s just hard to image what a person, or a couple of people, can do with a couple pieces of equipment, even though we’re good at it.”
Utica police said three teenage boys got into the heavy equipment on Nickles’ property about 12:30 a.m. Saturday and started destroying things.
“We’re sorting through it. It looks like it could go anywhere between 40 and 50 thousand dollars (in damage),” Nickles said.
Two of his trailers were torn apart and debris is littered around the yard.
“It hurts any time you lose that kind of money, you know, and we’ll just have to piece it back together with our forces because it’s pretty hard to carry insurance for all this stuff,” Nickles said.
Police said two 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old are responsible for the damage.
The teens were arrested after Nickles’ brother-in-law called 911.
“They were in shock, of course. At that time they didn’t say anything,” Lt. Det. Chris Schlager with Utica police said.
Utica police said they are working with the Clark County prosecutor’s office to charge the teens.
“There are felony charges and from my understanding we’ll try to pursue other charges with the prosecutor’s office,” Schlager said.
Police said they were able to get to the scene within minutes, and it was their quick response time that Nickles said helped spare his business from even more damage.
“They’ve been very very good to us. I can’t say enough about them,” Nickles said.
The teenagers’ names will not be released because they are minors.
They are facing charges that include trespassing, criminal mischief and conversion.
Utica police say their investigation is ongoing.
By Emily Maher
