28 face charges in Frost vandalism
Toolbox
By Gordon Dritschilo Herald Staff - Published: January 19, 2008
A birthday and New Year's party resulted in charges against 28 area youths, police said Friday.
Vermont State Police announced the citations Friday during a press conference at the barracks in New Haven. The accused, mostly teenagers, were allegedly the attendees at a party that did roughly $10,000 worth of damage to the Homer Noble Farm in Ripton, a national historical site that was once the summer home of poet Robert Frost.
Police only released 27 of the names, saying the 28th defendant is in college out of state and had not yet been served with paperwork.
All were cited for unlawful trespass, according to police, with five citations for unlawful mischief — to the people police said were observed partaking in the destruction — and one of each for furnishing alcohol to minors, enabling consumption of alcohol by minors and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police did not identify the person cited for the charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
All of the charges are misdemeanors.
Thirteen of those cited are from Middlebury, three from Salisbury, two each from Cornwall, Ripton and Weybridge, one each from Bridport, Addison, Waltham, Shoreham and North Clarendon. They range in age from 16 to 22. Police said the majority were students at Middlebury Union High School.
The Homer Noble Farm is owned by Middlebury College, which uses it for faculty housing during the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. The college recently completed renovations on the building.
The party started the night of Dec. 28 and carried on into the early hours of Dec. 29, according to police. A passing hiker discovered the damage the following afternoon.
Police said 17-year-old Andrew Ford of Ripton organized the event as a New Year's bash and as a birthday party for Brian M. Parks, 19, of Middlebury. Police said Ford had worked summers at the Bread Loaf campus, and knew of a door at the farm that was kept unlocked.
Ford is charged with unlawful trespass and enabling the consumption of alcohol by minors.
Patrick Deering, 22, of Middlebury, bought the beer with money from Ford, according to police, and brought five cases of 30 beers each with him to the farmhouse.
Sgt. Lee Hodsden, who conducted the investigation, said that while there were statements some party-goers smoked marijuana and that some paraphernalia was found at the site, there was not enough evidence to support drug charges.
Word of the party spread through emails and text messages, according to Hodsden, and an estimated 30 to 50 people turned up there.
"A lot of the kids said there were people there they didn't know," Hodsden said.
The house is unpowered and unheated during the winter, according to college officials, and Hodsden said the partygoers tried to fix the latter situation.
"They couldn't get the furnace going," he said. "Apparently there was firewood in the fireplace."
Hodsden said the defendants initially used the firewood to heat the building until one of the party-goers accidentally broke an antique wooden chair. They burned the chair in the fireplace, he said, and that was the first act of destruction, soon to be followed by several others.
An itemized list of damages released by the college included broken chairs, damage to the fireplace, a kicked-in antique-style air vent, broken pictures and dishes, a broken door and window and damage to a piano, a lampshade, an antique table, a bed frame, and the carpet.
People urinated and vomited on the carpet and set off fire extinguishers in the building, police said.
"One of the things we learned is some kids showed up, saw what was going on, realized this was wrong — and those kids, we commend them — and left," State Police Lt. Bruce Melendy said.
Partygoers parked along the Robert Frost interpretive trail across the road and were shuttled back and forth to the farmhouse, according to police. Hodsden said his major break in the case came when Dylan Cobden, a 17-year-old from Weybridge, got his vehicle stuck and left it behind.
Hodsden said he had it towed and waited for someone to come looking for it. When Cobden called the police, Hodsden said he asked what the teenager had been doing in Ripton.
"He said he was at a party," Hodsden said.
Hodsden said the case came together from there.
"Most of the kids were very remorseful," he said. "Some were crying. … Two of them were indifferent to it, thought it was a big joke."
Hodsden said the parents of those involved were cooperative.
"I think a lot of how they found out their children were involved was at the supper table," said Middlebury Police Officer Scott Fisher, MUHS's school resource officer. "I would get calls, pass information along to Sgt. Hodsden."
Police said all 28 were cited to appear in Middlebury District Court Feb. 11.
Homer Noble was a friend of Frost and the poet spent his summers at the farm starting in 1939 and continuing until his death in 1963. Uphill from the farmhouse is the famous cabin to which Frost would retreat to write. The cabin, a popular tourist destination, was not damaged.
College officials said Friday that most of the damage had been repaired and they were discussing how to better secure the site.
Contact Gordon Dritschilo at gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com.