BiggerPockets

On Friday justice was served, and the little juvenile delinquent who broke into one of my rental properties had his day in court. To bad for him it didn't turn out so well.

Apparently the evidence against him was so overwhelming that he eventually pleaded "true" to the charges of criminal trespass and criminal damaging. I had a chance to testify and look his mom square in the eye when I spoke of how lucky this kid was that he didn't get shot.

I had worked out a deal ahead of time with the prosecutor. I had asked that instead of reimbursement for damages we could maybe work out some "alternative sentencing" for the kid. She was all on board with that, as was the judge. So the kid is going to be mowing my grass, shoveling snow, picking weeds, washing windows etc. at my rental house every Saturday morning for the next 10 Saturdays. I had requested that he and his mother be present at my rental property at 7 a.m. or "first light" every Saturday morning. There they will find a list of the chores he is to do each week.

I really wanted mom the "feel the pain" of this thing, that's why I requested she attend. The judge loved the idea, and along with the punishment he placed him on probation and the court will also be monitoring his attendance in school.

I'm actually hoping to spend a little time with the kid and teach him a little bit about tough love. I highly doubt he has a male influence in his life, so maybe some good can come out of all of this and we can get him headed down the right path.

Congratulations.

I hope it works out for you, the kid and his mom.

May I suggest a "reward" for him IF he completes everything without any problems ... something small but meaningful like a sports team shirt or a book.

Perhaps you could offer him "continued employment" such as more yard work in the spring?

Well, things might have been a bit different had you asked me what I wanted the day after it happened. Fortunately I had 3 months to sit on this as it worked its way through the courts.

At the end of the day I thought back to my youth and all the stupid shennanigans I pulled. Granted I never broke into someones house but I did do some stupid teenage boy stuff. The only difference between him and me is I never got caught!

We'll see how it all turns out. Hopefully this is a turning point for him.

When I founded my RE investing company one of the missions I set for the company was to improve the communities where we invest. At the time I was thinking mostly about fixing up old houses and making the community look nicer, but maybe there is more to it than just that.

Props to you my friend. Some would have rather saw the kid hang then that so it's good to see you have a heart of gold.

I cost more for the state to house an inmate for 4 years than it does to send that inmate to college...

Congratulations on getting some justice for the wrongs committed by this boy.

Without knowing the involvement by the mom in this situation, I feel compelled to be a buzz kill. I know there are plenty of parents who totally ignore their kids, or even encourage bad behavior. But as the parent of a less-than-saintly-behaved kid who's spent many nights trying to encourage appropriate behavior (tonight), laying awake worrying (Saturday night) and dealing with the legal system because of bad behavior, I really wonder if you've not put the screws to a mom who's doing her best with a bad situation.

I'm all for having your perp work off their crimes. But do you have some evidence mom is really at fault here? You've presented nothing in this thread that says she is. Believe me I "feel the pain" EVERY DAY of my child's behavior. If I could do something to fix it, I certainly would. Being dragged out at the crack of dawn for 10 Saturdays would hardly improve the situation. If a judge ordered me to do it, I would. But it would be right up there with punching me in the gut when someone's already ripped my arm off.

Oh man kids these days let me tell you, If and when I was in my prime I would have totally refused to do this. I would have thought I was so bad ass, but you know I gotta give you the thumbs up for making that extra effort.

Also, you know what you should do....(Just like in the movie Gran Torino) Make the kid fix up your neighbors house/houses so that the whole block can look great and increase your value.

Congrats on taking the high road, but I hope you will watch your back during this whole situation. I have a friend who let a teen drive away without a police report after the kid rear-ended him, and now the kid's parents have charged my friend with hit-skip and menacing. He should never, ever have trusted that kid. No good deed goes unpunished. Just saying, be careful.