SALEM — Talk about a buzz kill.
A Salem State College freshman was arrested and charged with larceny early yesterday after campus police caught him tipping a vending machine to get cans of Amp Energy.
James Delfraino, 19, who is from Brockton, pleaded not guilty to the charge during his arraignment several hours later in Salem District Court, but campus police say he confessed to having slipped into a cafeteria at the Bertolon School of Business three times over the past several months, taking about 20 cans each time.
Amp Energy costs about $2 a can.
Campus police got a tip that Delfraino, who lives in a dorm, was planning to stock up again, so they headed over to set up a stakeout on a mezzanine overlooking the cafeteria around 3 a.m.
Sure enough, they heard banging and then saw Delfraino tipping the machine forward, which released a few cans into the bottom of the machine.
When the officers approached, Delfraino said he was just buying some drinks. But after they asked him why he had 18 cold cans of Amp in his backpack, he confessed, according to a police report.
Prosecutor Patrick Collins didn't ask for bail in the case, only an order that Delfraino stay out of trouble while the case is pending — and that he stay away from the campus vending machines.
When his lawyer, Leslie Salter, suggested that might not be possible on a college campus, Judge Richard Mori suggested a compromise.
"Don't touch the vending machines," Mori warned Delfraino. "If you want to buy a Coke or something, you're going to have to get someone to put the money in for you."
Defraino is due back in court on Jan. 29.
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