Tippecanoe and Terror Too: Engineering Student Charged With Terroristic Mischief for Leaving Box with Wheel Lock, Ticket, and $20 in Hallway

Roy C. Sun, 21, is a smart senior student who hopes to be an engineer. He is a senior student at Purdue University in Indiana. Purdue police also say that he is a terrorist after he left a suspicious box in the hallway of the university’s Visitor Information Center. The police surrounded the area, used a small x-ray machine, and evacuated the building — only to discover that the box contained a wheel lock, a Purdue parking ticket and $20. Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington has charged him as a terrorist.

Sun has been charged with terroristic mischief, triggering protests by other students, here.

This is the first terrorist charge ever filed by Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington.

Obviously, the incident caused embarrassment to the police. But Chief John Cox insists that Sun must have wanted to terrorize the community: “The clerk was there. If his intent was to pay his ticket, the clerk was there. But they went around the corner, into a hallway and out of view.”

There is now even a Facebook page entitled “Free Roy Sun.”

The Class C felony is punishable by a maximum of eight years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Possession of stolen property is a Class D felony, which is punishable by up to three years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000.

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