5 students accused of stealing pieces of NC State's former basketball court

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Four NC State students and one Wake Tech student have been accused of stealing and damaging pieces of Reynolds Coliseum basketball court memorabilia.

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One suspect, Benjamin Ogburn, 21, was arrested Monday and faces charges of felony larceny, injury to personal property and wearing a mask on public property.

According to NC State officials, Ogburn is a junior construction engineer student.

Warrants said Ogburn stole two sections of the former basketball court.

The damage caused was in excess of $200.

A Wake County arrest warrant says he concealed his face with a mask while at the venerable coliseum Dec. 7.

The property has a value of $1,350, according to a Wake County warrant.

Ogburn answered the door of his home in Raleigh and said, "I prefer not to answer any questions right now. When this is all over, I might be a little more at ease to answer but currently, I'd still like to focus on what's still going on."

Ogburn's attorney told ABC11 no statement would be provided.

Students are reacting to the crime.

"It just makes me very upset that something would happen on our campus," said NC State freshman Leanna Pursino.

Students say the history of Reynolds Coliseum is important.

"They just recently remodeled this a few years ago and they kept some of the old floor to memorialize it because we won," said NC State junior John Lockhart, who is majoring in business. "The men's team used to play here and we won two national championships so it's really upsetting that somebody would do that. I don't know why."

"That's where people go to speak and that's where we have our graduations so it is a big deal," said NC State Junior Ben Wendt. "The history of it is really important. Having all that stuff in there is really important to me."

"Kind of a memorial to what's been done in the past and really kind of remembering that," said NC State junior Dylan Meogar, who is majoring in psychology.

Samuel Brightbill, Shawn J-Quan Lee, Michael Salgado, and Robert Marble turned themselves in.

According to NC State, both pieces were returned and only one was damaged.