Those Kids Were Unhinged
“So I bought my first house 12 years ago. It was in a low-middle-class neighborhood with a lot of working-class families. My house had a pool in the backyard and my parents bought me and my wife a hot tub as a wedding/housewarming gift. Two weeks after moving in, we found a stranger and 6 teenage kids swimming in our pool when we got home. We will call them Entitled Mom (EM), Entitled Daughter (ED), Entitled Son (ES), and the others I assume to be their friends and/or boyfriend. ED was about 18 or 19 years old and her brother was about 17.
When we told them to get out and get off our property, the EM told me that the previous owner gave them permission to come over whenever they wanted to swim. I explained to her that I was the new owner and that I was not okay with it.
I told EM that not only did I not know them, but there is a legal liability for me if they got hurt. She yelled and faked cried saying I was being a bad neighbor, selfish, and forcing her kids to sweat in the summer heat. She told me that if they died of heat stroke, it was my fault for not letting them swim in my pool. I told her to get off my property and never return.
Fast forward two weeks. I had put up a ‘no trespassing’ sign on my property in multiple spots and had gotten to know many of the not entitled neighbors. They were great and told me to ignore EM and her kids. They told us she was already badmouthing us, but no one ever believed her.
Then I started to notice when I woke up in the morning, that there is evidence of people using my pool and hot tub at night when we are asleep or away. I find cans, smoke butts, and even a used rubber. I figure it has to be EM and/or her brats. So I installed cameras on the grounds and start videotaping. Sure enough, I catch ED and a few others hanging out in my pool on Friday nights when my wife and I are out. Friday nights she goes to a friend’s house for movies and I play Warhammer 40k or card games. I figure they must have been waiting for us to leave and then threw a mini-party or were quietly swimming while we slept. So I discussed it with my wife and decide to teach EM and her brats a lesson.
So the next Friday night, I park my car a street over and my wife does the same. We wait in the dark house to see if any of them come over. ED and I assume her bf, ES and I assume his gf, and 4 other teen couples come right over and start skinny dipping in my pool and hot tub. (Why a brother and sister would do that together still bothers me.) They had drinks and I could smell the weed from inside the house. I waited 45 minutes for them to get really into their fun and two are actually going at it in the pool. I then spring my trap.
I go out with my weapon pointed at the ground but at the ready. When I reach the pool, my wife flips on the backlights and I yell for them to freeze or I’ll shoot. My wife calls the police meanwhile.
They all have the deer in the headlights look on their faces and not one of them tries to speak for a good minute. The ED starts to tell us that she has permission to be there and that we need to let them get dressed. I tell them that if they move towards me or their property, I would consider them to be charging me or reaching for a weapon and I’d shoot. They must have believed me because they froze. One girl begged me to give her her clothes while she was trying to cover herself with her hands.
Not being a total prick, I said that I will throw them all their clothing. I then walk over to their piles of clothing, phones, and purses and throw EVERYTHING into the pool. They freak out trying to save their phones and other goods. After ten minutes the police show up and they have the kids climb out of the pool wearing their soaked clothes and trying to shake their phones dry. I show the police the videos from our cameras, the ‘no trespassing’ signs, and explain to them that I had told them and their mother they were persona non grata. The kids were arrested for trespassing, possession of a controlled substance, underage drinking, and indecent exposure.
The police recommended that next time, I leave the weapon in the safe and let them just come and get them. I told them that I thought they might attack my wife and had to ‘stand my ground.’ I proved that I never pointed it at them with the videos so I couldn’t be charged with anything.
As the kids were being loaded into the police cruisers, EM shows up yelling at the police and my wife and me. She demands that the police let them go and even tries to open the door on one of the cruisers. The police threaten her with being arrested if she doesn’t back off and leave my wife and me alone.
I later found out that the charges against the teens were reduced and they all agreed to plea deals. They all got community service, fines, and were put on probation. We got a restraining order against EM and her brats so they couldn’t bother us again. I sent a bill to EM for the cost of draining, disinfecting, and refilling my pool and having a professional cleaning service clean up the kids’ mess. The bill was for about $400. I had my parent’s attorney send it to EM with a letter stating that if it was not paid in 30 days, then we would sue her for a more significant amount. She sent a check to my attorney and thankfully, it did not bounce. About a year later, the entire entitled family moved away and we never heard from them again.”
