Justice Served!
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.