PITTSBURGH --
Three men were arrested early Sunday morning after police said they broke into Heinz Field.
The out-of-state men told police they sneaked into the Pittsburgh Steelers' home stadium Sunday morning because one of them had lost a wallet, Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard said.
But one of the suspects, Neville Noshir Medhora, told Channel 11 News that the three had attended a wedding at the stadium the night before and weren't allowed on the field, so they sneaked back the next morning to take some pictures.
“The wedding was amazing. Unfortunately, it was raining all day. So, instead of having the wedding on the field, it was in a tent on the concrete. So, we never actually got to go on the field. So, we were up late and started walking around … Me and two other friends, we saw the stadium. We could see the field … We found a place where we could sneak under the gate,” Mehora said.
However, Richard said the official police report does not reflect that the men told police anything about the wedding or taking pictures, only that one of them had lost a wallet.
Medhora, 27, of Austin, Texas; Adil Minocherhomjee, 22, of La Jolla, Calif.; and Shazad Mehta, 28, of Elmhurst, Ill., were released on unsecured bond. They’re due in city court Thursday to face charges of criminal trespass and conspiracy.
Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett confirmed that a wedding was held at the stadium's banquet facility on Saturday, but said he has no way to confirm whether the men were in attendance.
There was no damage to the field or the facility.
Medhora said the trio crawled under fences at Heinz Field shortly before 7 a.m. on Sunday, but never made it onto the field.
“We didn't think of it, at the time, as breaking in,” said Medhora. “We slipped under that gate. We didn't plan on doing anything. We thought it was totally harmless. We were wrong.”
Security said the three fled when approached. Police arrived at the scene and arrested the men as they exited the stadium.
Medhora denies any other intentions other than to take pictures.
“We were looking forward to actually going on the grass and being where the Steelers play,” Mehora said.
Police notified the Department of Homeland Security as a precaution because the incident involves a high-occupancy sports venue.
In November 2006, two Carnegie Mellon University students were accused of trying to break into the stadium shortly after someone threatened to detonate radioactive "dirty bombs" at seven National Football League stadiums.
The students were initially jailed on $1 million bond as the case was turned over to a regional terrorism task force, but no such link was ever found. Both later entered a special probation program for first-time offenders that enabled their records to be expunged.
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