STATE COLLEGE, Pa (WTAJ) — WTAJ is reporting… Police have charged a woman who allegedly vandalized multiple Penn State buildings, including the Nittany Lion Shrine in May. Julia Cipparulo, 23, has been charged with vandalizing the Nittany Lion Shrine, Old Main and Hintz Family Alumni Center on May 8. Police were able to determine based on security video, evidence they found on campus and Cipparulo’s TikTok account that she defaced Penn State property, according to court documents. On May 17, after police searched Cipparulo’s New Jersey home, she returned one part of the lion’s ear and confessed to traveling from her home to State College to vandalize the lion shrine and buildings. She is reportedly protesting several deaths by students in unrelated incidents, incidents she says were mishandled and covered up.
Photo courtesy Onward State
This was reportedly backed up by geolocational records and a note on her phone leaving a step-by-step plan for the vandalism, according to police. Police responded to the vandalism around 7 a.m. on May 8, and saw red paint on the lion’s left ear and upon further investigating, they realized that part of the ear was broken off. On the back side of the shrine, there was red paint all over and the names “Osaze”, “Tim”, “Ashley” and “Justine” were spray-painted on the walkway behind the shrine, according to police. Those names are in reference to Penn State students who’ve passed away within the past three years.
While reviewing the security video, police saw Cipparulo, who was wearing dark clothes with a blue PSU ball cap, black headphones with a silver bar and a face mask throwing away a backpack and removing a white hoodie just before 4:50 a.m. Police later searched the backpack and found it covered in red paint, the same color as the lion shrine, and found a pair of hyper tough gloves, a tube of “apple red” paint, two pieces of the lion shrine’s ear, a sharpie, a candle, three lighters and a gold earring with a long brown hair attached. Around 4:50 a.m. Cipparulo reportedly vandalized the front doors of Old Main and wrote “time is up” on the middle south door and “death by cop”, “death by hazing”, “death by suicide” and “death by PSU culture” in blue sharpie on side doors, according to police.
