OT: New Spin on Home Invasion

[njtosd]

For those with kids on high school, the following is a description of an event that happened last Sunday around the corner from us. I have deleted details, although I don’t think it’s terribly private as this was posted on a relatively public forum already:

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On Sunday night, 80~100 teenagers showed up uninvited at our house after someone deliberately placed a fictitious ad via social medial identifying our house as a high school party location. My daughter was home with 2 other girls at the time and a group of 9 unknown teens climbed over our locked side gate and barged through our unlocked door to the kitchen. While she was confronting them and trying to get them out, more high schoolers started to show up from other entrances. As my daughter/friends went to guard the front gate, and made their best effort to turn people away, more got in by climbing over our side gate and backyard. Many brought in alcohol, and ransacked our house while my daughter and her friends were completely helpless and defenseless. The crowds were finally disbursed when police showed up around 11pm. Fortunately no one was injured but my house was badly vandalized, furniture damaged and items/jewelery were stolen. I apologize for the disturbance this has caused our neighbors on the street and bless the hearts to those kids who stayed hours after to help with cleanup. This apparently happened to several other neighbors before, but I hope won’t happen to anyone else!
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Most alarm systems have a panic button but we neglected, up until now, to teach our kids to use it. To me, it seems as though the people who came barging in were the ones who placed the fictitious party ad. I haven’t found out yet whether these kids were known to the girls who were home – I assume at least tangentially. Really hard to believe.

[Anonymous]

They shoulda called officer barrel roll.

[moneymaker]

A few cameras might be appropriate as I don’t know if I would believe the teenage girls story or not, in any case cameras that record would have shed some light on the truth.

[njtosd]

[quote=moneymaker]A few cameras might be appropriate as I don’t know if I would believe the teenage girls story or not, in any case cameras that record would have shed some light on the truth.[/quote]

Cameras – yes. I don’t think this girl is the type (for many reasons) but you never know. It reminds me a bit of the scam in big cities where one person confuses you (stuck in revolving door, trips and runs into you, etc) while the other tries to steal your wallet, phone, etc.

[ltsddd]

mm has a good point. Unless these 80-100 kids were all ninjas, I would expect someone else in the ‘hood would have seen or heard them.

[njtosd]

[quote=ltsdd]mm has a good point. Unless these 80-100 kids were all ninjas, I would expect someone else in the ‘hood would have seen or heard them.[/quote]

We saw it, we just didn’t realize what was going on.

[no_such_reality]

So a teenage girl is home with a couple girlfriends while the parents are away (I’m assume not just out for the night ) and the unknown robbers post a party plan to rob the place getting lucky (or more likely knowing from school contact) that just the girls are there and in the confusion rob the place

Of the girls invite some friends over for a party, one dumb dumb posts it, it gets out of hand and someone opportunistically steals valuables.

[svelte]

[quote=njtosd]… Many brought in alcohol, and ransacked our house while my daughter and her friends were completely helpless and defenseless. …[/quote]

I must have missed the part where the uninvited guests also stole their daughter’s cell phone so she couldn’t call 911, and blocked her path to the neighbor’s house so she couldn’t get help next door.

Don’t doubt there were uninvited guests. Do doubt the amount of resistance that was put up.

And if it had happened to several other neighbors before, why hadn’t they talked to their kids about the appropriate response should it happen to them?

[poorgradstudent]

[quote=no_such_reality]So a teenage girl is home with a couple girlfriends while the parents are away (I’m assume not just out for the night ) and the unknown robbers post a party plan to rob the place getting lucky (or more likely knowing from school contact) that just the girls are there and in the confusion rob the place

Of the girls invite some friends over for a party, one dumb dumb posts it, it gets out of hand and someone opportunistically steals valuables.[/quote]

Yeah, it’s really easy for a party to snowball. She tells two friends, then she tells two friends, then she tells two friends…

Otherwise this is an awesome prank.

[ucodegen]

Why didn’t the girls call police when the first few forced their way in? Call police, then your daughter and friends should have started taking pictures.

Then hand the pictures to the police and let them track the people down. If one of the people there was the person who set it all up – then there would be leads…

Personally, I think one of the girls thought it would be ‘fun’, but it quickly got out of hand. This is probably why the delay in the police. I think they would have immediately called if the forceful entry was a complete surprise.

I vote for video security system – hide the controller and hard drives that the system uses (don’t use attic because the heat damages electronic hardware)

[njtosd]

[quote=svelte][quote=njtosd]… Many brought in alcohol, and ransacked our house while my daughter and her friends were completely helpless and defenseless. …[/quote]

I must have missed the part where the uninvited guests also stole their daughter’s cell phone so she couldn’t call 911, and blocked her path to the neighbor’s house so she couldn’t get help next door.

Don’t doubt there were uninvited guests. Do doubt the amount of resistance that was put up.

And if it had happened to several other neighbors before, why hadn’t they talked to their kids about the appropriate response should it happen to them?[/quote]

No one said they didn’t call 911, nor do I have any info about how long it took police to get there. My guess is that it was not very fast. I personally had not heard of anything like this before.

[njtosd]

[quote=ucodegen]Why didn’t the girls call police when the first few forced their way in? Call police, then your daughter and friends should have started taking pictures.

Then hand the pictures to the police and let them track the people down. If one of the people there was the person who set it all up – then there would be leads…

Personally, I think one of the girls thought it would be ‘fun’, but it quickly got out of hand. This is probably why the delay in the police. I think they would have immediately called if the forceful entry was a complete surprise.

I vote for video security system – hide the controller and hard drives that the system uses (don’t use attic because the heat damages electronic hardware)[/quote]

1. This was not my daughter. I met only one of the girls years ago. If they are juveniles we won’t get much more info, but I will try.
2. Who said police were delayed or that the girls didn’t call right away? There is an ongoing problem of slow response, btw.

[svelte]

[quote=njtosd][quote=svelte][quote=njtosd]… Many brought in alcohol, and ransacked our house while my daughter and her friends were completely helpless and defenseless. …[/quote]

I must have missed the part where the uninvited guests also stole their daughter’s cell phone so she couldn’t call 911, and blocked her path to the neighbor’s house so she couldn’t get help next door.

Don’t doubt there were uninvited guests. Do doubt the amount of resistance that was put up.

And if it had happened to several other neighbors before, why hadn’t they talked to their kids about the appropriate response should it happen to them?[/quote]

No one said they didn’t call 911, nor do I have any info about how long it took police to get there. My guess is that it was not very fast. I personally had not heard of anything like this before.[/quote]

What city was this in?

If someone calls 911 stating intruders are ransacking their house and the police don’t arrive in under 5 minutes, then you need to have a talk with your local police department and hit all the news stations with the story.

[svelte]

[quote=njtosd] I personally had not heard of anything like this before.[/quote]

Risky Business
Sixteen Candles
Project X
American Pie
Superbad
House Party

Teen house parties going amuck while the parents are away were in all of those movies. Maybe word of mouth didn’t spread via craigslist/facebook/twitter, but there have always been ways to spread it.

When I had teens at home and my wife and I were going to be away for the evening or weekend, I would go talk to the neighbors and explain that we were leaving a teen alone and that if ANY strange cars/people came by the house, to give us a call. So I knew about the possibilities even back then. We didn’t want to come back and find Animal House in our living room.

[Anonymous]

Call 911 and there’s a good possibility that you’ll be cleaning blood off your kitchen floor, your kid will be attending a classmate’s funeral, and a cop or two will get some extra paid vacation.

I teach my kids to never call 911 un less it’s a matter of life and death.

[Author]

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