Morristown Man Accused of Destroying Apartment in Boston

A young man from Morristown was one of six college seniors arraigned Wedesday in Brighton (Mass.) District Court on charges of breaking and entering and willful and malicious destruction of property at an apartment in Brighton. The other five were young men from Westchester County and Rhode Island.

Matthew Tolkowski of Morristown and other Boston College students forced their way into an apartment and vandalized it around 11:30 p.m. March 16, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said.

They "punched holes in the walls, urinated throughout the apartment and threw eggs, milk, and other food," prosecutors said. They then ripped a gas line from a clothes dryer in the basement and left as the apartment filled with gas, according to a news release from Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. 

The six arraigned are Tolkowski, 22, Charles Howe, 21 of Pleasantville, Timothy Orr, 21 of Briarcliff Manor, Arthur Pidoriano, 21 of Cortlandt Manor, Christian Rockefeller, 22 of Pleasantville and David Rogers, 22 of Providence, RI.

A call alerting the gas company to the leak — allegedly from one of the young men —prompted an emergency response from police and firefighters. Damage to the property was estimated at $25,000. 

The six are due back in court May 16, Conley said.