Water balloon bombers arrested

Water balloon bombers arrested
BY KIMBALL PERRY | KPERRY@ENQUIRER.COM
The Enquirer, October 5, 2007

Necoli Carr-Ballard knew the forecast Thursday afternoon didn’t call for rain so she wondered where the sprinkles hitting her head were coming from when she stepped out onto Downtown’s Sixth Street.

“I almost got hit by a water balloon,” said Carr-Ballard, an employee at the Moler-Hollywood Beauty Academy at 130 E. Sixth St.

So did others, police said in arresting three men for throwing water balloons off the top of the eight-story building at 130 E. Sixth St. – and capturing the results on video.

Police believe the balloons were aimed at people on the sidewalk who stopped to pick up a $1 bill the men glued to the sidewalk.

“The video shows the whole incident,” police said.

Carr-Ballard left the beauty academy’s building just before 4 p.m. Thursday to move her car.

That’s when she felt the spray caused when the water balloon tossed from eight stories up smacked into the sidewalk.

“I looked up and said, ‘What’s going on?’ I stumbled into someone (walking past).”

When she saw it was water balloons, she knew it wasn’t somebody at the school – and suspected it had something to do with the men she saw climbing the building’s fire escape earlier.

Students reported seeing a young black man wearing a back pack on the fire escape, accompanied by a young white man.

Soon, she was back in the beauty academy offices when Cincinnati police showed up, looking for the balloon launchers.

Eventually, seven Cincinnati police officers – and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office helicopter – were called to arrest three men, two of whom were hiding on the roof, Ballard said.
Arrested were Rodney Smith, 22, of Norwood; Dan Schmidt, 23, of West Price Hill, and; Brandon Meyer, 22, of Reading.

“Everybody was wondering what was going on,” Ballard said. “It was crazy.”

No injuries were reported, but Ballard said the stupid stunt was one more reason the beauty academy is leaving Downtown, moving to Pleasant Ridge next week.

“We’re too old for this,” Ballard, 37, said.

In court Friday, Smith pleaded no contest to inducing panic and disorderly conduct and was found guilty.

Smith was ordered held on $8,000 bond for those charges – and a driving under suspension warrant that was out on him – by Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Julie Stautberg.

Smith can be jailed for 180 days, but the judge delayed his sentencing until Oct. 25 because she wants to find out how much time and expense police went to to arrest the trio, presumably because part of their sentence will include repaying that money.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Barnett said it costs taxpayers $195 per hour to operate the helicopter used in arresting the trio.

Both Schmidt, a self-employed music producer accused of recording the incident with a video camera, and Meyer, a college graduate who works at Johnny’s Toys, were ordered held today on $5,000 bond.

Their attorneys wouldn’t talk about what they trio was going to do with the video.

While some may think it a silly prank, Ballard was worried about how badly it could have gone.

“Somebody could have been hurt,” she said.

“You know, really, a small prank can become something worse.”