New details have been released regarding property stolen from the College and Greek houses April 14 and 15, including a list of the pilfered items.
Five of eight accused Middlebury College students copped a plea with prosecutors Tuesday that lowered the charge of "theft by unauthorized taking" from a Class A to a Class B Misdemeanor. A sixth pleaded not guilty and will stand trial in early August.
Two others, 20-year old Remy Mansfield of Manchester, Maine, and 20-year-old Zachary Snyder of South Egremont, Mass., have not yet entered a plea. Their attorneys have filed for a motion to continue the arraignment, which means they will not enter a plea until their as-yet-unscheduled trial date. Snyder faces only the theft charge, while Mansfield is also charged with unlawful possession of alcohol.
The five that did plead guilty paid either a $790 or $1,390 fine, depending on whether they were charged with unlawful possession or not. They had faced possible jail time, but the state decided to only press for a fine.
Lower Grafton County prosecutor Charlene Beaulieu said she offered the students a lesser charge due to the nature of the crime and their perceived intentions.
Beaulieu noted that the original plea bargain offered for the theft charge -- a $1,000 fine plus a 20 percent penalty assessment -- is extremely steep for a college student. That fine, though, was argued down to $650 by defendant Joseph Freedman's attorney.
An itemized list of the property found during a search of defendant Peter Hall's Toyota 4-Runner revealed that the Middlebury students took at least 21 pieces of property from the campus, mostly from Greek houses. This count did not include composites, such as Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority's, found later on the Sigma Nu fraternity lawn. Police said they apparently couldn't fit the KDE composite in their car, so they left it at Sigma Nu.
Hardest hit was Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity. Police found six items belonging to Tri-Kap in the car, including a 1916 baseball trophy, a goblet, a plaque bearing the name "Professor Richardson" and a book entitled The Crock of Gold. Tri-Kap President Jeffrey Iacono '05 said these items were intended for Tri-Kap's display cases.
Zeta Psi fraternity also had several objects taken, including their 1992 and 1994 composites and a trophy dating from 2000. The students had also stolen Chi Heorot fraternity's 1995 composite.In addition to the 1984 composite stolen from Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the students took a personalized bowling pin, which was found on floor of Hall's front passenger seat.
SAE President Mat Ackerman '05 said the students apparently asked for a tour of the house, entered a resident's room and nabbed the pin.
The group even removed the signs from the parking areas of the Roth Center and the Edgerton House.
The reaction from victimized Greek houses to the thefts has been mixed, running the gamut from outraged to amused. Most Greek leaders did agree, however, that the punishment was appropriate.
Although the Middlebury eight stole more from Tri-Kap than from any other house, Iacono said he realized "it was kids just being kids," and added that the house was happy with the steep fines handed down by the court.
Phi Tau coed fraternity did not even realize that their parking sign had been stolen until Hanover Police called to return the item. But most members of the house still believed that the Middlebury thieves deserved some kind of probation, Phi Tau President Andrew Shamel '05 said.
"The house was more amused about it than anything else, but we are glad to have the sign back," Shamel said.
