22-Jan-15 – Three young men dodged jail time for an incident almost a year ago that did $700,000 worth of damage to Trump International Hotel & Tower in River North.

The men, all in their mid 20s, were accused of activating an emergency water valve in a stairwell on the fifth floor.

Carl Koenemann of Desplaines, Illinois, and Daniel Maradei of Hanover Park, Illinois, were cleared of criminal charges on Wednesday at Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Benjamin Nitch, age 26, of Barrington, Illinois, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation. He must perform 480 hours of community service and submit to random urine tests and he is banned from Trump Tower.

On February 15, 2014, after a day of drinking and one round of drinks at Trump’s Sixteen, the men were refused service because they appeared to be intoxicated. At about 6:10 p.m., they left the bar and entered the stairwell. On the fifth floor, one of the men turned the valve open and that caused water to gush out at 250 gallons per minute for about ten minutes. The water flooded two elevator shafts and damaged walls, ceilings, and Italian marble flooring.

Koenemann and Nitch were arrested on February 16 and Maradei, the following week. They were all charged with felony criminal damage to property and wore electronic monitoring devices until their trial.

None of the building’s 186 security cameras caught exactly who opened the valve but Koenemann and Maradei told Chicago police they think Nitch did it.

If convicted, Nitch could have faced up to seven years in prison.