Daily Mail
A former University of Connecticut student has been arrested after vandalizing several buildings around campus.
Eric Cruz-Lopez, 21, was charged with 103 counts of criminal mischief.
Police caught him after a three-month investigation into incidents of vandalism from December 2016 to March 2017.
Cruz-Lopez was seen entering and leaving areas around the time when the vandalism was reported to occur, police said.
The word ‘PEST’ was written with a paint pen in most of the instances. Sometimes the graffiti said ‘F*** Trump’ or there was a cartoon face with the same words in a bubble.
In total, the damage amounted to more than $4,200. Some of the events happened in the Student Union, the Dodd Center and the Homer Babbage Library.
UConn police identified Cruz-Lopez through surveillance cameras and his UConn swipe card, according to a warrant. Police also installed extra cameras to help them find the vandal, reported the Hartford Courant.
Cruz-Lopez was arrested on May 7 and released without having to post bail – and is no longer enrolled at UConn.
‘I did the graffiti,’ he wrote in his police statement.
‘I am open to entering into a conversation about restitution.’
According to arrest paperwork, Cruz-Lopez is a community organizer for CT Students for a Dream, an organization that advocates on behalf of undocumented immigrants and has described himself as one too.
He has not yet entered a plea to the charges and is not represented by a lawyer. He is due back in Superior Court in Rockville on June 14.
