Two alleged thrill-seekers are facing charges after reportedly sneaking onto the roof of a Ballston apartment building and parachuting off of it earlier this year.
Around 10 p.m. on Jan. 2, a 30-year-old and a 26-year-old are alleged to have jumped from the roof of the Meridian at Ballston Commons apartments, descending more than 200 feet before landing on N. Stuart Street.
According to a criminal complaint, the two men — both masked — used a valid combination on a call box near the building’s entrance to access the 438-unit building, despite neither man residing there.
The men then proceeded to the building’s rooftop, first to a party room where security camera footage captured them donning parachutes and helmets, according to court documents.
Though there are no building cameras in the pool area, the two men are believed to have bypassed a locked, 7-foot metal gate to access the sealed-off area before jumping from the building, according to the complaint.
Law enforcement reportedly obtained footage of the jump that was later posted to social media.
“The video shows the two jumping off the corner nearest to Wilson Blvd and N. Stuart Street,” the complaint says, “and landing on the roadway of N. Stuart Street near 9th Street N.”
The 26-year-old was taken into custody two days after the jump. The 30-year-old was identified after a search of his co-conspirator’s cellphone connected him to the event, the complaint said.
“Text messages between the two involved discussion about planning the jump, if the building needed a key fob or not, as well as discussing the importance of not talking to the police, and the need to ‘disappear for a while,'” the complaint said.
BASE jumping — an acronym for Buildings, Antennas, Spans and Earth — is an activity where participants jump from high places and parachute to the ground. It’s not a crime in Virginia.
The two men, however, each face one count of trespassing and one count of illegally wearing a mask. The latter charge stems from them concealing their faces before entering the pool area, police said.
Completed in May 1999, the 21-story Meridian at Ballston Commons building is currently tied for the title of sixth-tallest building in the neighborhood, following 4040 Wilson, 4000 N. Fairfax Drive and others.
A call placed to the apartment building, as well as an email sent to property management company Paradigm Companies, went unanswered.
Both suspects are scheduled to appear in Arlington’s General District Court for preliminary hearings on March 12. Requests for comment sent to both men went unanswered.
