Suspects Posted Hotel Damage on Twitter

Charleston Gazette: South Charleston police have arrested six people over the past two days, after photos of them destroying a hotel room and spa area at a South Charleston motel were posted on the Twitter social networking website.

Drew Korsen, Nathan Brown, Michael Adkins, Jason Boyle, Gregory Shane Barnes and Jesse Nunley have been arrested on felony charges of destruction of property, South Charleston Police Officer E.M. Peterson said. Their ages and hometowns were not immediately available.

Police expect to arrest at least two more in the next few days. Two juveniles also were involved in the incident, Peterson said. All of the suspects are between the ages of 16 and 23.

At about 10:30 a.m. Monday, workers at the Wingate Inn told police that the men had destroyed a hotel room and spa area at the hotel and caused about $13,885 in damage, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court. That total does not include damage the men had allegedly done to the hotel's sprinkler system, the complaint states.

The men had apparently rented the room to party, Peterson said. Two females had been in the room for the party, but left after the men started destroying things, he said.

Three of the suspects -- Korsen, Boyle, and a man who has not yet been arrested -- wrote messages back and forth on Twitter as they destroyed the hotel room, and posted pictures of the carnage along the way, Peterson said.

Almost all of the partygoers were shown in the photographs, which police then used to make the arrests, Peterson said.

"These kids handed me this case," he said.

Because the destroyed property is valued at more than $2,500, the men have been charged with felonies, Peterson said. He did not say how the property was destroyed.

Of the six men arrested so far, four had been released on bond as of Wednesday evening. Brown and Boyle remained in jail.