Former Dowling College site in Oakdale vandalized, social media challenge blamed, Suffolk police say
A Farmingdale teen faces arraignment next month after police said he broke a window at the former site of Dowling College in Oakdale — then claimed the vandalism was part of a social media challenge.
Suffolk County Police said Thursday that investigators have so far not been able to link the act to a specific social media challenge.
The teen, identified only as an 18-year-old from Farmingdale, was arrested Tuesday at about 6 p.m. after police said a Fifth Precinct officer saw him and two other males on the Idle Hour Boulevard property and determined that "one of the teens broke a window with a rock."
Police said the teen claimed he caused the damage "as part of a social (media) challenge targeting historic buildings."
The teen was issued a field appearance ticket charging him with fourth-degree criminal mischief and is scheduled for arraignment April 10 in First District Court in Central Islip.
The damaged building was once the William K. Vanderbilt Idle Hour mansion and served as the main campus for Dowling College, which opened in September 1968 and ceased operations on Aug. 31, 2016.
A growing number of social media challenges have led to bouts of vandalism in recent years, one of the most recent being the so-called "Kool-Aid Man Challenge," which police said last month led to the arrest of six teens for allegedly running through and destroying a fence in Centereach — a nod to the Kool-Aid commercial, in which the brand's mascot crashes through walls and fences.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
