What was suspected to have been a prank has landed a man in jail. The offense? Turning neighborhood pools green.
Patrick Spina IV, a 45-year-old resident of Absecon, New Jersey, has been apprehended by law enforcement for allegedly dropping chemical dye into residential and commercial pools using a drone, KRON4 reports.
Residents and business owners in the area were alarmed when they observed drones hovering over their properties, releasing a substance that turned pool water a shocking shade of green. One such incident occurred at a Quality Inn in Galloway Township, where the pool’s concrete base sustained damage. Sandra Woolstion, the hotel’s general manager, estimated the financial toll to be in the tens of thousands due to pool draining, cleaning, refilling, and lost revenue from cancellations.
Authorities were able to trace the drone back to Comfort Solutions Heating and Cooling, leading to Patrick Spina IV’s arrest. While investigators suspect it may have been a prank, the use of Sea Dye, intended for ocean marking, caused both disruption and damage to the affected pools.
The Absecon Police Department charged him with multiple counts of criminal mischief, following a series of disruptive incidents that began on August 13.