Two Fallon brothers, ages 17 and 15, confessed Tuesday to placing a running hose in a house built as a Churchill County High School class project, causing thousands of dollars in damage, police said.
Fallon Police Chief Russ Brooks said the teens admitted putting the hose in the house at 552 Discovery Drive to flood it. The vandalism was discovered Monday morning when a neighbor noticed a hose sticking out of a hole in the front door where a door knob had not yet been installed.
The crime was solved on a hunch after Fallon police officers discussed the arrest of two brothers early Monday morning.
Brooks said the boys were arrested at 12:28 a.m. Monday after police responded to an audible alarm at Corky's Mini Mart and Video Village on South Taylor Street.
"Two kids were seen running from the location, and were caught inside the fence on the junior high school field," Brooks said.
They were taken into custody, turned over to juvenile probation officers, and incarcerated at a juvenile-detention facility.
The younger brother had been reported as a runaway two months ago, Brooks added.
"Because it was a burglary, they became guests of the state and were taken to Carson City," the chief said. "They tried to run away, but were captured."
He said the teens were charged with burglary, injury to property, petty larceny, possession and use of alcohol and forgery.
Alcohol, checks and other small items had been stolen from the convenience store, Brooks said, and the brothers had allegedly forged checks taken from the business.
One of the boys is on youth parole for a previous crime. The other is on probation in Lyon County. Brooks could not determine which teen was on parole and which is on probation Tuesday afternoon because the investigation was ongoing and police reports were still being completed.
The 1,550-square-foot house was completely flooded. Mold had started forming on bedroom walls.
"They are going to have to rip out all the wallboard 1 to 2 feet high, all the baseboards and take the cabinets out and scrub them," Brooks said. "They're looking at tens of thousands of dollars in damages for that house."
Each year, vocational students build a home to learn the construction trade. The homes are sold, with profits used to purchase materials for the next year's class.
School district officials said the house will be repaired to its original condition before it is put back on the market. A bid process was scheduled to expire today, with the Churchill County School Board opening any bids at its regular meeting. No bids had been received as of Monday afternoon for the minimum bid price of $230,000.
• Marlene Garcia can be contacted at mgarcia@lahontanvalleynews.com.