Police arrested Notre Dame freshman Brian McCurren early Sunday morning for allegedly breaking into and vandalizing a South Bend wellness facility, Therapeutic Indulgence, Saturday night, according to a WSBT report and McCurren’s attorney Stan Wruble.
“It would be premature to [comment] at this time since the investigation is ongoing,” Wruble, an adjunct law professor at Notre Dame, said in an email to The Observer on Monday night. “…I can confirm that Brian was arrested Sunday and released from the county jail late this afternoon.
“It is my understanding that no formal charges have been filed as of yet, despite other media reports to the contrary. I would expect formal charges to be filed soon.”
WSBT reported Monday that police arrested McCurren on charges of burglary, vandalism and underage drinking.
Kim Miller, esthetician at Therapeutic Indulgence, told The Observer that massage therapist Natalie Harling arrived Sunday for an appointment at the facility and discovered the break-in.
“[Harling] showed up at 8:30 or 9 o’clock and noticed that our front door was kind of messed up and our side door was pretty banged up as well, and when she did get in there was powder all over the ground,” Miller said. “… The police went upstairs and they found the guy in the kitchen passed out where he was surrounded by Hot Pockets and Drumstick ice cream.
“He had gotten into our freezer and just had a heyday. He was apparently very hungry. There was a frozen dinner in the oven that was burning and the smoke detector was going off.”
Miller said the intruder attempted to enter the business, which is located in a “historical house,” from multiple access points.
“He eventually got into the house because he tried all of our entrances and couldn’t get through,” she said. “Our Jefferson Boulevard entrance — he took a 100 pound concrete flower pot, threw it trough the glass door and entered our enclosed porch.
“There’s a second door, and we lock that, so he couldn’t get through the second door. He decided to take a hammer and beat his way through the wall, an interior wall to get into the place, so that whole wall is just completely obliterated.”
Miller said the intruder sprayed a fire extinguisher throughout the building but left the business’s valuables unmoved.
“He didn’t damage anything as far as our computers; he didn’t try to get our money,” she said. “Our desk is completely untouched. Basically it was like a rampage. He went on a destructive rampage.”
Miller said the man whom police escorted from the building was “completely messed up” and “wasn’t aware of what was happening.”
She said the employees of Therapeutic Indulgence had conflicting reactions to the alleged break-in and vandalism.
“I think that we were just blown away by how bizarre it was,” she said. “We’ve all been laughing about it because it’s just so insane, absolutely crazy, completely pointless, just mindless destruction.”
Miller said Therapeutic Indulgence will continue to operate but may relocate temporarily to the second floor of the Emporium building in South Bend.
