Bethany College, Kansas Wesleyan Cleared by Police in Water Cooler Tampering Case

The Bethany College and Kansas Wesleyan University baseball teams have been cleared in a water tampering probe. 

Per TMZ Sports, the Lindsborg Police Department determined no one with either program was responsible for allegedly putting paint thinner into a water cooler during a game between the clubs Sunday. 

The police are still investigating the situation, but they have identified two male juveniles as being involved. 

Per TMZ, authorities said they conducted "more than 60 interviews, collected multiple pieces of evidence, photographed the scene, and followed various leads in its investigation" before clearing both teams. 

In the original police report filed by Kansas Wesleyan University on Monday that was obtained by TMZ, "multiple unnamed people" from the school were listed as victims. 

Criminal threat, contaminated food/water sources, battery, knowing/recklessly causing bodily harm and criminal damage to property were among the offenses listed on the report.

An image allegedly of the contaminated water from the game was posted online on Sunday:

The school said in a statement to TMZ after the image was posted online that it began an immediate review of the situation: 

"Kansas Wesleyan is aware of the primary tweet—made by an account not affiliated with the university—regarding this situation. We take this extremely seriously. Therefore, we immediately began a thorough, in-depth review, with the priority of putting the health and safety of our student-athletes first."

TMZ noted Bethany College also filed a report on the same day Kansas Wesleyan did. Both schools agreed to cooperate with the investigation. 

Kansas Wesleyan and Bethany College are members of the NAIA and the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. The two teams split a doubleheader on Sunday, with Bethany winning the first game 8-7. 

Kansas Wesleyan rebounded with a 33-2 win in seven innings in the second game.