University of Wisconsin police arrested two self-proclaimed anarchists Tuesday who, in a vendetta against government vehicles and wealthy students, went on a crime spree. Their actions included campus-wide damage and theft last weekend.
Upon arrest, Edward Burger, 19, and Riccardo Dufek, 18, confessed to approximately 80 recent thefts and incidents of damaging property. The resulted damage is expected to exceed $15,000, according to a UW Police Department release.
Burger and Dufek have no affiliation with UW.
Lt. Eric Holen, UWPD, said the police originally thought several cases of slashed bicycle tires prior to Oct. 3 were isolated incidents, but Sunday’s vandalism was similar enough for the police to lump all incidents together.
“The volume of [the incidents] from Lot 60 started to give them a pattern,” Holen said.
Early Sunday morning, after damaging several cars in a UW parking ramp on Johnson Street, Burger and Dufek rode stolen bikes down the Lakeshore path while drinking bottles of wine they had stolen from a car, according to a release.
They continued to UW’s Lot 60, where they damaged and smashed windows of 19 more cars and urinated in a university-owned truck. The men then stopped at the UW Hospital emergency room, where Burger sought treatment for hand and head injuries, the release reported.
After treatment in the emergency room the men continued to damage other UW parking lots, focusing on vehicles with U.S. government license plates. Burger and Dufek damaged at least one other UW building, the release stated.
“They were developed as suspects [after the weekend] and on Tuesday we were able to arrest them,” Holen said.
Police recovered some stolen property when Burger and Dufek were arrested, including brass knuckles, bicycles and stereo equipment, Holen said.
According to the release, Burger said one of his reasons for committing the crimes was to make a name for himself.
Both men are being held in the Dane county jail on probation holds, Holen said.
“They probably haven’t been charged officially,” Holen said, adding formal charges will be brought against both men within a week.
UW junior Alyssa Ayres, who owns a car, said parking on campus is a potentially risky situation.
“I worry about it, but with the high price of parking here, you can’t really afford to keep [a car] in a garage,” Ayres said.
Both Burger and Dufek have previously been convicted of disorderly conduct, possessing concealed weapons, and theft, according to court documents. Burger also has prior convictions for graffiti and criminal damage to property.
