50 year old prank confessional

The prank took two months to plan, 10 people to orchestrate and 50 years to confess.

Three weeks before his 50th reunion at Palo Alto High School this weekend, Charles Monsalve sent a $500 check and a note to Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Kevin Skelly divulging his involvement in a "dastardly deed" that went unpunished.

"In 1957, 50 years ago, a most nefarious plot was undertaken by 10 Palo Alto seniors, and instigated at the end of the school year," Monsalve wrote. "This plot was a culmination of two months of meticulous planning by these evil doers. I know because I was one of them."

The prank? Dumping two years' worth of "various" beverage cans into the Palo Alto High School pool.

"The fun was in the planning," Monsalve, now 68, said Tuesday. "We spent two months planning - we could've been doing a bank robbery."

The 10 seniors divvied up their responsibilities. One student watched for police officers from an oak tree while two couples pretending to make out guarded both school entrances.

"Everybody had a designated escape route," Monsalve said.

Meanwhile, a member of the school's swimming and water polo team secured the combination to the swimming pool gate locks, enabling two cars loaded with cans to enter. The next morning, seniors arriving for their final day of school in 1957 were welcomed by "floating debris," Monsalve wrote.

And for 50 years, the culprits were never apprehended.

"The trick in doing a prank is not going around bragging about it," said Monsalve, who is still keeping his pledge to not reveal the identity of his co-conspirators. "I don't think they'll be too concerned that I revealed the plot," he said. In part, his confession was to memorialize four of his fellow pranksters who have since died.

The approaching 50th reunion prompted some "sentimental thinking about the number of friends I've lost," Monsalve said. Besides, he added, "I'm not doing any jail time over this now."

The inflation-adjusted $500 check is meant to cover the nearly 16 hours that maintenance workers spent cleaning up the pool, roughly $50 worth of labor in 1957 dollars, Monsalve estimated.