McPHERSON, Kan. — A 12-year-old boy has been charged in connection with the contamination of a water cooler used by a small-college baseball team in Kansas.
The boy was charged with endangerment and criminal damage to property for allegedly pouring paint into Kansas Wesleyan’s water cooler during a doubleheader against Bethany College in Lindsborg on April 24.
A summons will be issued for the juvenile to appear in court, McPherson County Attorney Jennifer Wyatt wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Friday. Wyatt provided no further details.
Authorities haven’t said if any Kansas Wesleyan players or staff drank the contaminated water or became ill. Wesleyan athletic director Steve Wilson did not immediately respond to phone and text messages seeking comment.
Officials from both schools contacted police to report a foreign substance — later identified as paint used to put lines on the field — in Kansas Wesleyan’s water. The home team, Bethany in this case, customarily provides water to the visiting team.
Police had said on April 28 that two juvenile males were suspected of tampering with the cooler.
Lindsborg is a town of 3,000 people in central Kansas. The campuses of Kansas Wesleyan and Bethany are separated by 18 miles and the schools are longtime athletic rivals.
