Illinois State University has hired a company to remove recyclables from the decommissioned Atkin Colby residence halls on the south side of campus.
University Police Chief Aaron Woodruff says two men caught there at one this morning allegedly taking copper pipe were not part of the authorized salvage operation.
“University staff that were in there doing some maintenance work found that some copper piping and tubing had already been removed from the building. A couple days later there was another entry made a second time and they’d been removing quite a bit of the copper.”
Woodruff says police set up a motion sensitive camera and silent alarm and when it went off they set up a perimeter. Woodruff says the investigation continues, but in all, about $40,000 worth of copper was removed. In custody are 30 year old Jacob Schultz and 30 year old Tyler Reinitz, both of Bloomington. The south side residence complex is due for demolition late next summer.