MIDDLETOWN – An old abandoned building at the former Middletown Psychiatric Center is apparently listed and the second scariest building in Orange County, according to a web site, and late Wednesday night, 23 teens from the Washingtonville area went over there to see for themselves what was so frightening.

Second scariest vacant building...

What they found were Middletown City Police officers and Orange County Sheriff’s deputies there to arrest 20 of them for trespassing.

The teens, boys and girls, were found inside a fenced in area next to an abandoned building at 22 Dorothea Dix Drive, said Police Lt. Paul Rickard.

The teenagers are students at Washingtonville High School and told responding officers that they found the building by doing a Google search of the scariest places in Orange County. The teenagers told the officers that they wanted to go inside because they heard that building was in the “Top five of scariest places to visit”.

Middletown Police had responded to a report of suspicious vehicles at 11:19 at night. Officers found the defendants upon their arrival.

The building is one of the original buildings on the psych center property and has been fenced off for over the past 10 years. The building formerly housed patients at the Psych Center.

Those arrested by the Middletown Police are identified by the police as:
Daniel Strommer, 17, of Washingtonville
Julia Pasqua, 17, of Campbell Hall
Gerard Scparta, 17, of Campbell Hall
Victoria Mendoza, 16, of Rock Tavern
Nicholas Tramontozzi, 16, of Washingtonville
Timmothy Breheny, 18, of Washingtonville
Ciara McKailen, 16, of Rock Tavern
John Reyes, 18, of Washingtonville
Flynn Kelly, 17, of Monroe
Dennis Carolan, 16, of Rock Tavern

All subjects were given appearance tickets to appear in Middletown City Court on April 15 to answer the Charge of Trespass, a violation.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office was called by The Middletown Police to assist and processed the other 10 teenagers that were arrested.

What was listed as the scariest abandoned building in Orange County, you ask? The former Salesian property in Goshen.