Tevious
Member
This all started a couple weeks ago on a Friday night. Someone rings the doorbell, I look outside, and no one is there. I think, cute, we have little kids playing pranks on the neighborhood; harmless. Then it happens again on Saturday, I go out and look around the street for any hiding kids, but don’t see anyone except some teens casually walking in the neighborhood. This time, I decide to get a little revenge. I took a piece of cardboard, placed dog turds on it, sprinkled on a few leaves, and set it in front of the doorbell. Unfortunately, they didn’t come back again that night. On Sunday night, I put the dog turds out again, but no one showed up.
The whole week goes by and nothing happens again until the next Friday. I completely forgot about it. Kid rings the doorbell and runs away. I let it slide this time, because I don’t expect them to do it again that night. I start to notice a pattern. They only do it on Friday and Saturday nights or when there is no school the next morning. Always between 7:00-10:00. It happens again about 30 minutes later. I run out the door chasing after the kid until he’s out of breath and gives up. It turns out he’s about 12. I yelled at him and had me take him home so I could speak with his parents. I asked him, “Aren’t you too old for this? This is something an 8 year old would do.” He explained that “They” made me do it. I took him home, talked with his dad, and his dad yelled at him for it.
Now it’s Saturday night. I had hoped it was all over with now that I caught one of the kids, but it happens again. I put the dog turds out again, then slip out the back door, and hide behind a tree across the street. I wait for them to come back, and sure enough they do; two teenagers. I see one of them running up to my home, ring the doorbell, and I start chasing after him. They both start running and split off in different directions. I chased one down and he hides behind the garbage dumpster. I caught him, yelled at him, and had me take him to his home or I would call the cops. I speak with his dad and he gets grounded for it. He’s about 15 or 16 years old and his name is Jayce. His dad makes him tell me everything he knows. He claims the other kid he is with was “Jayden” and he doesn’t know where he lives. His dad told him that tomorrow he has to have him come to my house and apologize, or he couldn’t see him anymore.
I walk around the neighborhood a bit, looking to see if this “Jayden” is still out there. I suspiciously see some kids going over to the kid’s house I just busted, Jayce. They see me, and hide behind the wall to the car port. I call out, “Jayden”, and one kid steps out and says, “Yes?” I say, “You’re Jayden?” He says, “No, I’m Josh.” He kind of looks like the kid I saw just ring my doorbell and run away that I didn’t catch, but it was dark an I’m not 100% sure. I start questioning him on his involvement and why he’s hanging out in front of Jayce’s house. I ask how old is Jayden, and he says he’s 6. Then we go to Jayce’s house to confirm who he is and if he’s involved. I asked Jayce what his name is, and he confirms that he is Josh. I asked how old Jayden was, and he says he’s 16. After questioning them on their inconsistencies, I find out there are two Jaydens, something the dad then confirms too. I asked Josh who the other kid he was with was, and he says that it’s Jayden. It starts to rain a little, so I tell Josh he should go home. When I get home, I check the dog turds to see if they were stepped on, but I couldn’t confirm it. If they did step on a turd, it stuck to their shoe when they ran off.
Now it’s Sunday morning. I answer the door to a teen named “Jay”. He’s smoking a cigarette and listening to rap music. He says his real name is Jason, but everyone calls him Jay, and he’s 17. He claims not to be the one doing it, but he was with them and knows everyone involved. He says he’s only here on the weekends since he lives with another parent during the week and he has a 7:00 curfew. He says the other kids all blame him for everything, because he’s been to JDC, currently has a probation, and I guess he’s considered the “Trouble Kid”. He takes me around the neighborhood and I write down all the names and addresses of the kids apparently involved. He tells me how they blamed him for other events in the neighborhood, like starting a fire in the woods and blowing up the neighborhood sign with a gas can. He tells me that they’ve been breaking into vacant homes, throwing bricks at houses and even at my roof. (I never noticed, since I have an annoying tree next to my home and bits of branches fall off and hit the roof all the time.) I tell him how stupid that shit is; that they’re going to get themselves shot by someone. Then he tells me they even broke the window of some guy’s house with a brick and apparently, he fired shots outside his home.
During the trip around the neighborhood, I find out from Jay that Shawn, the first kid I caught (about 12 years old), was indeed bullied by the older kids to do it. Shawn does seem like a good kid, so I do believe that. And Jayden, the 6-8 year old kid, if he had done it before, it was probably because he was coerced to do it too. I asked Jay about if Jayce knew where he lived, and he says he does and has been to his house before. So I do know Jayce was lying to me and his dad the previous night to diminish his involvement. I also mention at some point to Jay that I would have a security camera set up at my home. By the end of the trip, I get 7 names and addresses, including Jay’s and the two I already knew from when I caught them the two previous nights. I spoke with 2 moms and asked them to talk with their kid about ringing my doorbell and running away. I can’t confirm at this point if they did it or not, since it’s all just hearsay from Jay. Jay also informed me that a girl named Bailey and a boy named Chris are the main two who ring my doorbell and they’re planning to do it again this night. He also says Bailey’s dad is a cop. Later that day, I get all the kids in the neighborhood, including Shawn, Jayden, Jay, and Jayce (lot of ‘Jay-’s here!) coming to my house warning me that Bailey and Chris are going to do it again tonight for sure. I told them, I would be ready for them.
For the record, I don’t entirely trust Jay, but he has given me a lot of information. I still suspect he could be involved since it happens on weekends when he is here. He may be coercing others to do it and possibly other things in the neighborhood. And he could be trying to set up Bailey and Chris to take the fall for his involvement.
So before Sunday night, like out of a Home Alone movie, I prepare some traps for any kid, albeit non-harmful, should they try and attempt ringing my doorbell again. I placed duct tape around my welcome mat, sticky side up, in a crisscross pattern that looks believably part of the design. Anyone who steps on it is going to have trouble running away. I placed electrical tape, sticky side up, over the doorbell, so I would have their prints in case they try any vandalism too. I replaced the dead bulb in my door light, turned it on, and set up my phone to record out the front window when the time is ready. I also plan on hiding behind my car with the garden hose ready to soak whoever shows up for some sweet revenge. At about 6:55, a bit earlier than I expected, I see Jay, another teen boy, and a teen girl walking down the street from my back porch, heading over to my street. I’m assuming the two others are Chris and Bailey. I throw out the welcome mat and turn on the camera, but it was too late for me to hide behind the car since I spotted them on my street already from the front window. I spy out the window waiting for them to make a move. The room was dark, so they wouldn’t be able to see me through the shutters. I see Bailey walking towards my house while the others were out of sight across the street, but then she stops and turns around, chickening out; possibly because I have the door light on now. They leave and go back up the street where they came. I got her on video making the attempt, but it’s hardly evidence to show her dad, since the camera quality is so poor at night, even with the door light and carport lights on, she didn’t go through with it and she was too far away to get her face on camera. That night, I would catch some teens approaching my street a couple other times. I would leave the light off and hide behind my car for a while with the garden hose, but no one attempted it again. I saw Jay outside several times past his apparent 7:00 curfew, even past 9:00.
So I’ll see what happens this week. Jay should be gone today, but Bailey and Chris may still try and do it again this week or they may not try again until Friday night. I ordered a motion sensor for my door light, so I can leave the light switch on without the light bulb being used all night. That alone might deter them from ringing my doorbell again. The car port light is already on a motion sensor. I also ordered a Foscam with night vision to set up my other window with a view of my car port. So if anyone comes and tries anything, I will know who they are and I already know where they live. I’m going to call the president of the neighborhood home owners association and make sure they know what’s going on. Some of these people are renters in the neighborhood and could easily get evicted if their kids are involved with vandalism. The neighborhood needs to set up some cameras, or at least fake ones.
Feel free to share your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas.
TLDR: Troubled teens are ringing my doorbell and running away, harassing me. Some are involved with other more serious crimes in the neighborhood, like starting fires, throwing bricks at houses, and breaking into vacant homes. I caught two kids in the act of ringing my doorbell and running away and spoke with their parents, but there are apparently more teens involved.
Q/A:
You seem to be overreacting to a childish prank.
At first, I assumed it was just children doing a childish prank. As it turns out, for some reason, my home was being targeted by teenagers and repeatedly harassed the same night. Possibly because my front door light was burnt out and because the dog keeps barking when it happens. Our first suspicion was that the younger kids were doing it because the dog had barked at them.
Why not ignore them?
Dog barks every time. Hard to ignore. She's wearing a spray bark collar most of the time, since she has a habit of barking at people behind the house, so she gets sprayed because of it too. I live in an association where we don't own the yards. It's all part of the neighborhood and the association takes care of it. There's a pond behind my home where kids play and people even fish. I've mostly ignored it at first, only answering the door and looking around the first time confused. Second time, I went out for a walk about 10-15 minutes later to see if there were kids around. I only started chasing them down after it happened repeatedly the same night.
Get a security camera. Call the police.
I am getting a security camera so I can identify them and notify the parents now that I know where they all live. I'm using my old phone's camera for the time being in my window. I'm getting one with night vision to place in another window just in case they try to vandalize my home or car. I suspect calling the police for just ringing the doorbell would be a waste of time and they probably can't do much without knowing who and where they live anyway. No one's going to do anything if a cop car hangs out on the street.
Turn off your doorbell.
I get a lot of packages at my home, so this is not preferred.
You sound like you're having fun with this.
I do enjoy pranking the prankster. I would have loved to have gotten them with the garden hose just to teach them a lesson in humility. I am also concerned that since they are already targeting my home, they could vandalize my home or car. I'm hoping now that I know where they all live and have spoken to some of their parents, they'll leave me be. I haven't met all of these kids yet, but the ones that I caught seemed to be a bit scared of me, especially since I'm much bigger than them. They may now regret ever messing with my home after getting caught by me.
Don't set up traps, you could be liable.
I know. All the traps I've set are harmless annoyances. Stepping on dog turds or getting wet from the garden hose wouldn't hurt anything but their pride. One idea I thought about doing was hiding behind my car and scaring the shit out of them with a jaguar caller thing I have. Its a sort of whistle that makes the sound of a jaguar; a loud monstrous roar sound.
Why are you posting this?
It's a crazy situation and I think this is an interesting read. It's been like unraveling a mystery! I'm hoping for advice on how to deal with troubled teenagers in my neighborhood or speculation on the kids involved.
OP is too long.
I'm trying to be thorough, both to avoid answering redundant questions and to make an interesting read.
UPDATE Friday 3/6:
No sign of the bastards tonight. I had my Foscam set up and can see with night vision and hear all audio from my carport. I'll see what happens tomorrow, but no one is even attempting anything tonight. No incidents all week, either. I haven't had it happen since I caught Jayce. If nothing continues to happen, I'll just update the OP rather than bump the thread.
UPDATE Saturday 3/7:
Still nothing. I might have actually nipped this one in the bud after catching Jayce and talking with Jay.
The whole week goes by and nothing happens again until the next Friday. I completely forgot about it. Kid rings the doorbell and runs away. I let it slide this time, because I don’t expect them to do it again that night. I start to notice a pattern. They only do it on Friday and Saturday nights or when there is no school the next morning. Always between 7:00-10:00. It happens again about 30 minutes later. I run out the door chasing after the kid until he’s out of breath and gives up. It turns out he’s about 12. I yelled at him and had me take him home so I could speak with his parents. I asked him, “Aren’t you too old for this? This is something an 8 year old would do.” He explained that “They” made me do it. I took him home, talked with his dad, and his dad yelled at him for it.
Now it’s Saturday night. I had hoped it was all over with now that I caught one of the kids, but it happens again. I put the dog turds out again, then slip out the back door, and hide behind a tree across the street. I wait for them to come back, and sure enough they do; two teenagers. I see one of them running up to my home, ring the doorbell, and I start chasing after him. They both start running and split off in different directions. I chased one down and he hides behind the garbage dumpster. I caught him, yelled at him, and had me take him to his home or I would call the cops. I speak with his dad and he gets grounded for it. He’s about 15 or 16 years old and his name is Jayce. His dad makes him tell me everything he knows. He claims the other kid he is with was “Jayden” and he doesn’t know where he lives. His dad told him that tomorrow he has to have him come to my house and apologize, or he couldn’t see him anymore.
I walk around the neighborhood a bit, looking to see if this “Jayden” is still out there. I suspiciously see some kids going over to the kid’s house I just busted, Jayce. They see me, and hide behind the wall to the car port. I call out, “Jayden”, and one kid steps out and says, “Yes?” I say, “You’re Jayden?” He says, “No, I’m Josh.” He kind of looks like the kid I saw just ring my doorbell and run away that I didn’t catch, but it was dark an I’m not 100% sure. I start questioning him on his involvement and why he’s hanging out in front of Jayce’s house. I ask how old is Jayden, and he says he’s 6. Then we go to Jayce’s house to confirm who he is and if he’s involved. I asked Jayce what his name is, and he confirms that he is Josh. I asked how old Jayden was, and he says he’s 16. After questioning them on their inconsistencies, I find out there are two Jaydens, something the dad then confirms too. I asked Josh who the other kid he was with was, and he says that it’s Jayden. It starts to rain a little, so I tell Josh he should go home. When I get home, I check the dog turds to see if they were stepped on, but I couldn’t confirm it. If they did step on a turd, it stuck to their shoe when they ran off.
Now it’s Sunday morning. I answer the door to a teen named “Jay”. He’s smoking a cigarette and listening to rap music. He says his real name is Jason, but everyone calls him Jay, and he’s 17. He claims not to be the one doing it, but he was with them and knows everyone involved. He says he’s only here on the weekends since he lives with another parent during the week and he has a 7:00 curfew. He says the other kids all blame him for everything, because he’s been to JDC, currently has a probation, and I guess he’s considered the “Trouble Kid”. He takes me around the neighborhood and I write down all the names and addresses of the kids apparently involved. He tells me how they blamed him for other events in the neighborhood, like starting a fire in the woods and blowing up the neighborhood sign with a gas can. He tells me that they’ve been breaking into vacant homes, throwing bricks at houses and even at my roof. (I never noticed, since I have an annoying tree next to my home and bits of branches fall off and hit the roof all the time.) I tell him how stupid that shit is; that they’re going to get themselves shot by someone. Then he tells me they even broke the window of some guy’s house with a brick and apparently, he fired shots outside his home.
During the trip around the neighborhood, I find out from Jay that Shawn, the first kid I caught (about 12 years old), was indeed bullied by the older kids to do it. Shawn does seem like a good kid, so I do believe that. And Jayden, the 6-8 year old kid, if he had done it before, it was probably because he was coerced to do it too. I asked Jay about if Jayce knew where he lived, and he says he does and has been to his house before. So I do know Jayce was lying to me and his dad the previous night to diminish his involvement. I also mention at some point to Jay that I would have a security camera set up at my home. By the end of the trip, I get 7 names and addresses, including Jay’s and the two I already knew from when I caught them the two previous nights. I spoke with 2 moms and asked them to talk with their kid about ringing my doorbell and running away. I can’t confirm at this point if they did it or not, since it’s all just hearsay from Jay. Jay also informed me that a girl named Bailey and a boy named Chris are the main two who ring my doorbell and they’re planning to do it again this night. He also says Bailey’s dad is a cop. Later that day, I get all the kids in the neighborhood, including Shawn, Jayden, Jay, and Jayce (lot of ‘Jay-’s here!) coming to my house warning me that Bailey and Chris are going to do it again tonight for sure. I told them, I would be ready for them.
For the record, I don’t entirely trust Jay, but he has given me a lot of information. I still suspect he could be involved since it happens on weekends when he is here. He may be coercing others to do it and possibly other things in the neighborhood. And he could be trying to set up Bailey and Chris to take the fall for his involvement.
So before Sunday night, like out of a Home Alone movie, I prepare some traps for any kid, albeit non-harmful, should they try and attempt ringing my doorbell again. I placed duct tape around my welcome mat, sticky side up, in a crisscross pattern that looks believably part of the design. Anyone who steps on it is going to have trouble running away. I placed electrical tape, sticky side up, over the doorbell, so I would have their prints in case they try any vandalism too. I replaced the dead bulb in my door light, turned it on, and set up my phone to record out the front window when the time is ready. I also plan on hiding behind my car with the garden hose ready to soak whoever shows up for some sweet revenge. At about 6:55, a bit earlier than I expected, I see Jay, another teen boy, and a teen girl walking down the street from my back porch, heading over to my street. I’m assuming the two others are Chris and Bailey. I throw out the welcome mat and turn on the camera, but it was too late for me to hide behind the car since I spotted them on my street already from the front window. I spy out the window waiting for them to make a move. The room was dark, so they wouldn’t be able to see me through the shutters. I see Bailey walking towards my house while the others were out of sight across the street, but then she stops and turns around, chickening out; possibly because I have the door light on now. They leave and go back up the street where they came. I got her on video making the attempt, but it’s hardly evidence to show her dad, since the camera quality is so poor at night, even with the door light and carport lights on, she didn’t go through with it and she was too far away to get her face on camera. That night, I would catch some teens approaching my street a couple other times. I would leave the light off and hide behind my car for a while with the garden hose, but no one attempted it again. I saw Jay outside several times past his apparent 7:00 curfew, even past 9:00.
So I’ll see what happens this week. Jay should be gone today, but Bailey and Chris may still try and do it again this week or they may not try again until Friday night. I ordered a motion sensor for my door light, so I can leave the light switch on without the light bulb being used all night. That alone might deter them from ringing my doorbell again. The car port light is already on a motion sensor. I also ordered a Foscam with night vision to set up my other window with a view of my car port. So if anyone comes and tries anything, I will know who they are and I already know where they live. I’m going to call the president of the neighborhood home owners association and make sure they know what’s going on. Some of these people are renters in the neighborhood and could easily get evicted if their kids are involved with vandalism. The neighborhood needs to set up some cameras, or at least fake ones.
Feel free to share your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas.
TLDR: Troubled teens are ringing my doorbell and running away, harassing me. Some are involved with other more serious crimes in the neighborhood, like starting fires, throwing bricks at houses, and breaking into vacant homes. I caught two kids in the act of ringing my doorbell and running away and spoke with their parents, but there are apparently more teens involved.
Q/A:
You seem to be overreacting to a childish prank.
At first, I assumed it was just children doing a childish prank. As it turns out, for some reason, my home was being targeted by teenagers and repeatedly harassed the same night. Possibly because my front door light was burnt out and because the dog keeps barking when it happens. Our first suspicion was that the younger kids were doing it because the dog had barked at them.
Why not ignore them?
Dog barks every time. Hard to ignore. She's wearing a spray bark collar most of the time, since she has a habit of barking at people behind the house, so she gets sprayed because of it too. I live in an association where we don't own the yards. It's all part of the neighborhood and the association takes care of it. There's a pond behind my home where kids play and people even fish. I've mostly ignored it at first, only answering the door and looking around the first time confused. Second time, I went out for a walk about 10-15 minutes later to see if there were kids around. I only started chasing them down after it happened repeatedly the same night.
Get a security camera. Call the police.
I am getting a security camera so I can identify them and notify the parents now that I know where they all live. I'm using my old phone's camera for the time being in my window. I'm getting one with night vision to place in another window just in case they try to vandalize my home or car. I suspect calling the police for just ringing the doorbell would be a waste of time and they probably can't do much without knowing who and where they live anyway. No one's going to do anything if a cop car hangs out on the street.
Turn off your doorbell.
I get a lot of packages at my home, so this is not preferred.
You sound like you're having fun with this.
I do enjoy pranking the prankster. I would have loved to have gotten them with the garden hose just to teach them a lesson in humility. I am also concerned that since they are already targeting my home, they could vandalize my home or car. I'm hoping now that I know where they all live and have spoken to some of their parents, they'll leave me be. I haven't met all of these kids yet, but the ones that I caught seemed to be a bit scared of me, especially since I'm much bigger than them. They may now regret ever messing with my home after getting caught by me.
Don't set up traps, you could be liable.
I know. All the traps I've set are harmless annoyances. Stepping on dog turds or getting wet from the garden hose wouldn't hurt anything but their pride. One idea I thought about doing was hiding behind my car and scaring the shit out of them with a jaguar caller thing I have. Its a sort of whistle that makes the sound of a jaguar; a loud monstrous roar sound.
Why are you posting this?
It's a crazy situation and I think this is an interesting read. It's been like unraveling a mystery! I'm hoping for advice on how to deal with troubled teenagers in my neighborhood or speculation on the kids involved.
OP is too long.
I'm trying to be thorough, both to avoid answering redundant questions and to make an interesting read.
UPDATE Friday 3/6:
No sign of the bastards tonight. I had my Foscam set up and can see with night vision and hear all audio from my carport. I'll see what happens tomorrow, but no one is even attempting anything tonight. No incidents all week, either. I haven't had it happen since I caught Jayce. If nothing continues to happen, I'll just update the OP rather than bump the thread.
UPDATE Saturday 3/7:
Still nothing. I might have actually nipped this one in the bud after catching Jayce and talking with Jay.
