Updated 4/13/11
Riverside police on Wednesday reported that two more juveniles, one from Riverside and one from Brookfield, have been given local ordinance violation tickets for disorderly conduct for their roles in egging and toilet-papering a Riverside home on election night, April 5.
Earlier, police had cited the 16-year-old son of a prominent Riverside-Brookfield High School tax referendum supporter for damaging the house. The house is owned by Chris Robling, who publicly opposed the referendum. The boy reportedly bragged about egging the home on a social media website.
Initially, police believed the boy acted alone. In subsequent interviews, two others were implicated, Deputy Police Chief John Krull said Wednesday. Krull said that families of all of those involved are working out an arrangement for restitution.
The home of Chris Robling, an outspoken critic of the Riverside-Brookfield High School tax referendum, was pelted with eggs on April 5 after election returns indicated that the referendum had been defeated by a resounding margin.
According to Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel, the 16-year-old son of a prominent referendum supporter admitted to egging and toilet-papering the Robling home.
Robling’s home was attacked at about 9:30 p.m. on April 5, according to the police report which the Landmark obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request. Neither Robling nor his wife Mary Jo Robling was home at the time, but their three children were in the home when the egging occurred.
After police were called, the Roblings informed them that there were postings on a social media site from someone who was bragging about egging their house.
Riverside police officers went to the boy’s Riverside home and questioned him about the egging.
“He admitted during questioning that he, in fact, egged the home,” Weitzel said. “The boy stated to the reporting officer that he did the act alone.”
According to the police report, the juvenile was given a local ordinance citation for disorderly conduct. Weitzel and the police report stated there were dents in the siding of the Roblings’ home. Police on Tuesday said their investigation was continuing.
“There obviously was damage there,” Weitzel said.
Emotions ran high throughout the referendum campaign with both supporters and opponents of the referendum sometimes attacking each other by posting anonymous comments after news stories on the Landmark website.
On March 31, one anonymous poster wrote that Robling and Jerry Buttimer, a frequent ally of Robling in RB affairs, should be run out of town.
“Run these two bums out of town” the anonymous poster wrote.
The poster also compared Robling and Buttimer to bugs on a windshield.
“Let’s wipe these two pathetic bugs from our windshields,” the poster wrote. “I sure would like to see clearly without their contrived mess obstructing my vision.”
Robling didn’t want to say very much about the egging.
“It was an unfortunate incident,” Robling said.
Robling declined to estimate the cost of cleaning up his home and fixing the damage.
