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Penn State Alumna Charged with Vandalizing Nittany Lion Shrine During Commencement Weekend

Updated 3 p.m., June 27, 2022

Police on Friday charged a 23-year-old Penn State alumna with vandalizing the Nittany Lion Shrine on the University Park campus during commencement weekend in May.

Julia Cipparulo, a 2021 Penn State graduate from Hillsborough, New Jersey, was charged with third-degree felony counts of institutional vandalism, criminal mischief, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property in connection with the damage to the limestone sculpture in the early morning hours of May 8, when she also allegedly spray painted messages on Old Main and the Hintz Family Alumni Center and wrote in marker on the Deike Building.

She was arraigned on Monday afternoon via Zoom by District Judge Steven Lachman, who set unsecured bail at $26,000 — approximately the same amount police wrote in a criminal complaint that it cost to repair damage from the vandalism. Cipparulo told Onward State in an email that officers working her case recommended unsecured bail. She did not comment on the charges during the arraignment.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 6.

In a statement sent to Onward State on Friday afternoon, Cipparulo claimed to have vandalized the Penn State campus landmarks as a protest.

Cipparulo called Penn State a “blueprint for mishandling, negligence, and concealing sexual abuse, hazing, and student deaths.” She stated that post-traumatic stress disorder was a factor in her decision to commit the crimes.

She allegedly broke an ear off of the Lion Shrine and doused it in red paint. After police served a search warrant on her home, investigators told her returning the ear would mitigate the cost of the damage. She subsequently took police to another location where the ear was stored and returned it. The shrine was closed for repairs for about three weeks.

She told police she “felt like a disgrace,” because she “tricked people into coming to Penn State,” while she was a Lion Ambassador, according to the complaint.

“I’m tired of people not talking about it. That’s why I’m forcing people to talk about it.” Cipparulo allegedly told police. “This was my peaceful protest,” Cipparulo allegedly told police. “”The back of the lion is red, because to the front it looks like everything is OK. Just like Penn State. From the back, it’s all bloody and broken.”

The names of four Penn State community members who died in the past five years were written behind the statue: Osaze [Osagie], Timothy [Piazza], Ashley [Pauls] and Justine [Gross]. She also spray-painted “death by cop,” “death by hazing,” “death by suicide,” and “death by PSU culture” messages on Old Main doors in reference to community members’ deaths, she wrote.

She added that “FTG,” which was painted on the Hintz Family Alumni Center, stood for “For The Glory.”

“Why should we chase glory anyway? When did that become more important than the lives and well-beings of Penn State students?” Cipparulo wrote.

Cipparulo said she lit candles at Old Main, the Bryce Jordan Center, the State College Municipal Building, Beaver Terrace Apartments and the Beta Theta Pi house.

“They considered it an attack on the university, and failed to considered the constant attacks that the school rages against the students,” she wrote in her statement. “If vandalism is the worst attack you have faced, consider yourself blessed…It’s not enough on my part. But that broken ear is a permanent reminder of the dark side of Penn State University, the lives lost, and a warning. A warning that the deaths will continue unless massive change is enacted.”

According to the complaint, Penn State police developed Cipparulo as the suspect because of a similar act of vandalism she committed in June 2021, when she splashed teal paint on the shrine and used permanent markers to vandalize Old Main and the Alumni Center, causing more than $20,000 in damage.

Surveillance video footage, police wrote, showed the suspect had the same physical characteristics as Cipparulo. A review of her TikTok account found videos with a backpack, earrings and headphones found during the investigation or observed on video. A note on her phone allegedly detailed her plan for traveling to State College and committing the vandalism, and store records showed she purchased red paint and mineral spirits on May 7. Police also say they found a note in her trash detailing items she would need and several State College addresses.

Cipparulo told police she acted alone.

She alleged in a 32-page document sent to Onward State that she experienced “repeated rape and sexual coercion” at Penn State and “nearly died” four times.

Cipparulo wrote that her name would be “public record” by the end of business day Friday, when charges were field in district court.

Police deferred comment to the university’s media relations department, which declined to comment prior to the arraignment.

According to her LinkedIn page, Cipparulo graduated with a biochemistry and molecular biology degree.