By: Kia Farhang

Two University of Minnesota students were warned for trespassing after being caught without their clothes on in a darkened auditorium of the Bell Museum of Natural History Tuesday afternoon.

A children’s science camp leader found the students “engaged in sexual activity,” according to a University police report.

The students quickly dressed and left the building, but returned about 15 minutes later to get a phone and watch they had left behind.

Police issued the students warnings, so they can be cited or arrested for trespassing if they return to the museum within a certain period of time.

University police Deputy Chief Chuck Miner said he didn’t know how long the students were barred from the museum, but said most trespass warnings last for one year.

He said the police could only issue warnings because nobody saw the students in the act.

The camp leader and one of the students declined to comment for this story. The other student couldn’t be reached.

Around 4 p.m., the camp leader found a pair of shorts, underwear and a condom wrapper on the floor, according to the police report.

She told the students to leave while another camp leader distracted the children.

Police came to the museum to take a report and inventory the phone and watch. They spoke with the students, who had then returned to collect their belongings.

The report said both students appeared nervous. The man, 21, told police he and his girlfriend were “exploring the University.” The woman, 18, said she was unaware children were in the building.

Miner said reports like this are fairly rare, especially in the middle of the day.

Disorderly conduct outside Sally’s

University police arrested a woman for disorderly conduct outside Sally’s Saloon and Eatery early Thursday morning.

She was in a “yelling match” with another woman at the corner of Walnut Street Southeast and Washington Avenue Southeast, according to a police report.

The officer pepper-sprayed the woman when she attacked the victim, who left the scene shortly after. His spray also hit the officer who was arresting the woman.

Police use pepper spray when they think it will keep an officer or citizen from harm, Miner said.

“It really depends on the circumstance as to what the best use of force is,” he said.

The woman declined medical care, the report said. Police booked her at the Hennepin County jail.