Three ISU students were charged Wednesday with second-degree burglary after they told police they were pulling a prank on the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house.

Jonathan Blaue, senior in management information systems; Alexander Foster, senior in communication studies; and Cory Bach, senior in finance, were arrested and charged with taking a TV from the fraternity after police received a call early Wednesday morning about suspicious activity near Ash Avenue and Sunset Drive, said Ames Police Cmdr. Mike Brennan.

A caller said he saw two men carrying a flat-screen TV through his yard, while another man walked with them, and that they placed the TV in a red car, Brennan said.

After talking with witnesses, police went to 2127 Sunset Drive, where they found Bach outside his residence, Brennan said. When police said they were investigating the TV in the red car parked outside, Bach took the police inside, where they found Blaue and Foster.

Blaue told police he took the television from the fraternity as a prank, Brennan said.

Officers then went to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity to speak to the residents who had been there at the time of the burglary, and they said they had not seen Blaue come into the fraternity house, Brennan said.

However, the fraternity house surveillance video showed Blaue taking the TV, as well as footage of Bach and Foster outside, Brennan said.

Blaue told police he had been the only one who went into the fraternity house, but Foster said he helped carry the TV, Brennan said.

Police did not know if the ISU students had friends within the fraternity, Brennan said.

No one from Sigma Alpha Epsilon could be reached for comment.

Second-degree burglary is a class C felony that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Preliminary hearings in the case have been scheduled for 1 p.m. Aug. 16.