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Police charged Frank Harrison V, 18, and Jason Maldonado, 23, both of 618 Liberty St., and a 17-year-old Columbia boy with burglary, theft by unlawful taking or disposition and criminal conspiracy.
Police gave the following account of the arrests.
Shortly before 9 p.m., a school employee saw people breaking into one of the construction storage trailers parked at the school during renovations.
Upon arrival, New Holland police Officers David Hughes and Jed Custer found a Jeep Grand Cherokee with three occupants in front of the school. The sports utility vehicle sped away when the officers approached it.
Officers tried to stop the SUV but lost sight of it when it went off the street and across a residential property. Within minutes, they found it parked behind O'Neill's Auto Body Shop at 580 E. Main St.
A witness reported seeing three males run from the SUV. New Holland police searched the area for the suspects, who were running behind homes and businesses south of East Main Street.
Officers from Ephrata Borough and East Earl, Warwick, West Earl and East Lampeter townships responded to assist.
Officer Hughes arrested Harrison a short distance from the SUV.
Police searched for an hour before finding Maldonado and the 17-year-old, police said.
Custer arrested both in the 100 block of East Jackson Street after a witness saw them running from the railroad tracks onto East Jackson Street.
Inside the SUV were nine large spools of insulated copper wire that had been taken from the school's job site, police said. Together, they are valued at over $3,000.
District Judge Rodney Hartman of New Holland arraigned Harrison and Maldonado, who were sent to Lancaster County Prison on $75,000 and $150,000 bail, respectively, police said. The teenager was sent to the county's Youth Intervention Center by juvenile probation.
