WSMV Channel 4 GPS locator on cell phone helps police nab Riverdale High vandal

GPS locator on cell phone helps police nab Riverdale High vandal

Three teenagers have been arrested, two charged with spraypainting graffiti on a building at Riverdale High School.  The teens took off on foot when police showed up, and it was the vandals' own cell phone that led cops right to them.

A nonprofit up the street was also the target of vandals, but this group of teens said, "don't pin that one on us."  

School officials spent Sunday afternoon cleaning up what the vandals left behind on the walls of Riverdale High School. The words "BMS," "Blaze" and drawings of flames were spraypainted in orange and blue paint. But what was even more disturbing was the racial slur written there. 

"This type of decision, to go vandalize, (using) racial slurs and (these) very immature high-school style pranks put a lot of people in danger," said Murfreesboro Police spokesman, Officer Kyle Evans.  

One of the teens, 18-year-old Nicholas Causey, didn't want any part of what was going on - so he stayed in the car. He was nevertheless arrested and charged with felony criminal conspiracy for just being there. 

When police arrived, 19-year-old Joel Delarosa and Colin McKee, also 19, made a run for it. Delarosa was taken into custody a short time later.

McKee was able to get away, and was later spotted at Stones River. But before police could get to him, he slipped into the water, which caused even more chaos.

"The water was very high, the current was very strong, and we were fearful that he had been swept downstream and maybe became trapped underneath the dam," Evans said.

It turned out emergency crews didn't have to do a swiftwater rescue after all. Police were able to track McKee down with the GPS locator on his cell phone.

"Working with the cell phone company, we were able to determine the cell phone was changing towers," Evans said. 

McKee was found hiding out at a relative's home.

A few blocks up the road on Warrior Drive, four buses owned by Inner City Ministry were vandalized. Vandals discharged fire extinguishers inside the buses, leaving behind quite a mess.  Cleanup could take days.

"It's kind of disappointing; there have been people on the property several times recently in the past couple of months. We found evidence of that," said Joe Dill, Inner City Ministry Fleet Manager.

Three people were captured on video in the back of Riverdale Church of Christ where the nonprofit shares the building. They could be seen jumping a fence and horsing around; one even climbed on top of a storage building.  

Murfreesboro police are not sure if the two acts of vandalism are related. The teens involved in the Riverdale case told police they were not responsible for vandalizing the buses.

Joel Delarosa and Colin were charged with vandalism of property causing more than $1,000 in damages and evading arrest. 

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