3 boys are charged in station vandalism

Three Anoka boys were charged with felonies Monday, accused of causing thousands of dollars in damage by smashing passenger-shelter glass walls at the Northstar Commuter Rail Station in Anoka.

The boys were charged with first-degree property damage, said Assistant County Attorney Brenda Sund. Police said a fourth suspect, a teenager, is being sought.

Total damage was estimated at $10,000.

The boys, ages 11, 12 and 14, allegedly broke 13 large panes, each costing about $650, and a shelter door with two smaller panes, officials said. Glass was broken on four occasions between July 5 and 20, said Police Capt. Scott Nolan. The three suspects were arrested Friday and booked in the Lino Lakes Juvenile Detention Center, he said.

"They created a lot of havoc for something so new," Nolan said. "Hopefully, it's over."

Anoka is one of six stops on the Northstar commuter line between Minneapolis and Big Lake that is scheduled to begin operating in November.

Video cameras at the station caught the vandals in action about dusk, and the boys admitted breaking the glass, Nolan said.

Police Chief Philip Johanson said residents have been excited about the new Northstar train coming to town. "Everybody is really disappointed to see that extensive damage to the new station," Johanson said. "It was a foolish, senseless thing to do."

He said that after the first vandalism incidents, police patrols were increased at the station near Pierce Street and Fourth Avenue N.

Nolan said the glass had a tough plastic coating, making it difficult to break. The vandals used a loose railroad tie in one incident, dug up 4- x 8-inch platform bricks another time and threw railbed rocks the other times, Nolan said.

The vandals broke nearly half of the panes in the three shelters on the south side of the tracks.

Taxpayers won't have to foot the bill. Johanson said Knutson Construction hadn't yet signed over the completed Anoka station to the Metropolitan Council, which will operate the commuter line.

Federly said the panes are on order and won't delay the station's planned opening in November. He said it is largely completed, except for finishing details.

The Anoka station, which cost about $4 million, is the only Northstar stop that has been vandalized to date, said Jill Brown, a spokeswoman for the Northstar Corridor Development Authority in Anoka.