Third Northwest College basketball player arrested in relation to break-ins

A third Northwest College Basketball player has been arrested in relation to the vandalism of the old Byron High School gym.

Tessi Thong, 19, a transfer student from Australia, was arrested on October 11 under felony counts of burglary and property destruction. 

Isaiah Halverson and Mack Page were both arrested on October 9 for the same incidents of vandalism, facing felony charges of burglary, conspiracy, property destruction and felony theft.

According to Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn, the old Byron High School, now home of the business Gold N’ Humates Oro Grow 307, was broken into Friday night, Sept. 29, and then Sunday night, Oct. 1, by several adult Northwest College students.

Estimates for the damage are preliminary, but Blackburn said just the clean-up alone is projected to cost $200,000.

According to the charging affidavits, the damage to the building is also estimated to be well over $1,000. Five total suspects were spotted on surveillance video, according to the affidavits. 

The affidavits describe various forms of vandalism that took place in the two cases of vandalism. Deputy Keri Angell describes that the intruders had created large holes in cinder block walls within the facility, and there was evidence of two fire extinguishers being discharged, particularly in the gym, where film covered the hallways leading to the gym, the gym floor and the bleachers. 

Surveillance footage shows males allegedly beating a window in the hallway with a pair of vice grips, suspects throwing billiard balls through an inside glass window, alongside a gallon of paint also being thrown through a glass window, causing the can to explode and paint to leak out onto the shelves and the floor on the other side of the window. 

The billiard balls were on the floor dried into the paint, the affidavit states.

According to the affidavit, it appeared as if the suspects climbed onto the storage balcony in the shop area and pushed tires off onto a heavy wood and metal table, destroying the table.

A walk-through also revealed that a lock into a secure room had been twisted off where a catalytic converter used in the manufacturing process of the farming product was found missing, Angell stated. The device is valued at more than $2,000, according to the affidavit.

Thong, Halverson and Page have all been released on bail and are awaiting preliminary hearings.