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Police: 4 students caught in UF president’s skybox at football stadium

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is located at 157 Gale Lemerand Drive at the University of Florida in Gainesville. (Brooke Johnson/WUFT News)
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is located at 157 Gale Lemerand Drive at the University of Florida in Gainesville. (Brooke Johnson/WUFT News)

Police found four University of Florida students without permission in the school president’s luxury skybox at the campus football stadium, and at least two had collected souvenirs and alcohol from the suite, court records said.

The four students were released from jail this week, according to court records. All face misdemeanor trespassing charges, and the two caught with goodie bags each face an additional felony burglary charge.

They did not respond Tuesday to attempts to interview them by phone and texts.

The break-in at the sixth-floor skybox happened early Saturday morning, with the Gators away playing Tennessee on the road, police said. Officers were tipped off by activity on surveillance cameras inside the president’s suite, court records showed.

When Officer Stephen A. Peters arrived on the scene, all four students were in the private lounge area of the skybox, he wrote in his account of the arrests. Two of them had stashed food, alcohol and souvenirs from the suite into bags. None of them had permission to be there, he said.

The university banned all four students from the football stadium for three years, but they were otherwise allowed to remain on campus. It wasn’t clear what student disciplinary sanctions they may face since those punishments are administered under a confidential process.

The four students were Lucas Richard Stultz, 19, of Boca Raton, a junior studying statistics; Bryceton Thai Chum, 20, of Boca Raton, a sophomore studying electrical engineering; Andriy Kostrubin, 19, of Palm Harbor, a junior studying plant science; and Diego Alejandro Levanti, 19, of Kissimmee, a junior studying mechanical engineering.

Levanti and Kostrubin were facing a felony burglary charge in addition to a trespassing charge, according to court records. They were released Tuesday in lieu of a $1,000 bond and pleaded not guilty.

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This is a breaking news story. Check back for further developments. Contact WUFT News by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.

Kaitlyn is a reporter for WUFT News who can be reached by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.