WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — After being hit over the weekend by vandals, the Irem Temple building in Wilkes-Barre was once again vandalized Monday morning.
Two men were caught on camera, allegedly damaging the building.
Vandals sprayed graffiti and cut a hole in the fence on the property on Saturday.
Organizers of the Irem Temple Restoration Project hope to turn the stage into a new music and event venue in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
"We're going to remove all the seats, so it has a 6,000-seat open floor. We're going to keep the balcony seats, but this is a unique venue to be totally complimentary with the (F.M. Kirby Center), similar to like Penn's Peak, and it'll draw the bands that require an open floor," Dale Parmenteri explained.
Parmenteri and a group of volunteers are behind this vision at the Irem Temple Restoration Project
While they hope to welcome thousands of guests to this building on North Franklin Street in the future, a few unwelcome visitors are taking center stage on the project's social media, despite fencing and security camera systems around the inside and outside of the building.
On Saturday night, a group of men cut a hole through the fence surrounding the building.
"They started to spray and do some graffiti damage to the building."
Monday morning, more trespassers made their way inside, causing damage to the building.
"We're a group of volunteers trying to repurpose this building to bring downtown foot traffic and a daytime and nighttime for the city, which is desperately needed because of the pandemic and the fact that people are working remotely, so it's a little discouraging that people will do damage to the building."
The project is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of these latest trespassers.
"I'll be frank. We have had some folks that we've worked out community service where they've actually either donated or came and actually did cleanup work on that," Parmenteri said. "We're not here to ruin anybody's life, but we will prosecute people to the fullest extent if we have to."
Folks with the restoration project say these incidents won't deter them from their work, but it's not making a massive undertaking any easier.
If you recognize anyone in the security footage or have any information, you are asked to contact Wilkes-Barre police.