A court appearance is set today (Tuesday) for two teenagers from Boone caught during an alleged vandalism spree. Assistant Boone Police Chief Don Anderson says it began when one stole a B.B. gun from the local Wal-Mart one day a week-and-a-half ago. They got a report of a window broken out of a car there in the store’s parking lot, then calls began flooding in — at least 30 reports of car windows shot out. Police “had an idea of who may be doing in.” They found the culprits later that day, in possession of the stolen B.B. gun, and after interviewing them, made the arrests. Two Boone men are charged with second-degree criminal mischief, 19-year-old Joshua Fruth and Jonathon Bailey, also 19. They were 19, Anderson says, and both remain in the Boone County jail as nobody was willing to bail them out. He adds the charge is a felony, based on the total cost of all the ruined windows. It’s not a crime unknown in the Boone County town, but is one of the largest in recent memory. The assistant chief says it puzzles him what people get out of committing vandalism. By the end of the day, police say they knew who the culprits were and went looking for their car. Their preliminary court appearance is set for today.
