Universal City : 3 Face Charges After Jump From Building

Three BASE jumpers, as they call themselves, were charged Friday with trespassing following a May 31 event in which they allegedly leaped from the roof of the 36-story Texaco building in Universal City and parachuted to the ground, a deputy city attorney said.

Michael Taylor Muscat, 43, of Van Nuys; Susan Hunt Runyon, 31, of Santa Monica, and John Marx Eagle, 26, of Hemet, each face a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, said Deputy City Atty. Richard Schmidt.

According to Schmidt, the three took an elevator to the 24th floor of the building about 4 p.m., then used an access ladder to make their way to the roof, where they waited until about 10 p.m.

Around that time, Schmidt said, a security officer received a report of someone on the roof of the building, and arrived just in time to see the final jumper, identified as Muscat, parachute to the ground.

Reached Friday at his Van Nuys home, Muscat said he could not discuss the charges. But, he said, “For the most part, it’s really, really frowned upon [by other jumpers] if anybody does any breaking and entering to get to a jump site.”

BASE, Muscat said, is an acronym for Building, Antenna, Span, Earth--the four most common platforms for such jumps.