Footprints in snow originally uploaded by Christian Guthier
According to this Farmington Independent article, two Farmington teens were arrested in early January after breaking into a home and stealing $10 from a bedroom. Their reasoning? They “did what comes naturally.”
From the article:
Farmington police officers Sean Scovill and Nate Siem responded to a report of a break-in at a home on the 5500 block of 180th St. W. around 12:20 p.m. on Jan. 6. The female owner had come home from work at noon that day to find that a block had been thrown through a sliding glass door in her basement, shattering the window. The owner also reported several items in the home had been moved, and a $10 bill was missing from a jar in her bedroom.
[...]
The girl admitted she and a 15-year-old boy had broken into the home. They thought it was an abandoned home and did not realize anyone lived there until they were inside, according to the report. Instead of leaving, the teenage couple “did what comes naturally,” Hollatz said.
While the 14 and 15 year old could have avoided any serious charges had they not taken the $10 bill, these moronic hoodlums were busted simply because the police officers followed tracks in the snow back to the area where the thieves were living. While they were both remorseful, they really should have known better at their age and sympathy should not be bestowed. However, the girl’s commentary that they “did what comes naturally,” seems almost as if they weren’t remorseful at all. Few people believe throwing a rock at a house, breaking a window and stealing $10 comes naturally. While teenagers are definitely not known for sane decision-making, this one appears to take it a little further than your typical stealing of lawn ornaments or moving for-sale signs around the neighborhood.
What do you think about this one? Is it natural teenage behavior to break into a home and steal money? What sorts of teenage hijinks did you get into when you were younger? Would you have ever thought about breaking into a house you thought was abandoned and then tromping around inside moving stuff around and stealing? Do you think you would have been smart enough not to leave tracks in the snow leading right to your home? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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January 18th, 2013 at 7:29 am
When I was reading this article I assumed that the comes naturally comment meant they were breaking into a house they thought was empty to have sex. Robbery I confess, did not occur to me.
January 18th, 2013 at 8:39 am
No, 14 and 15-year-old kids do not “naturally” feel the need to steal. I put most of the blame on parenting, or lack thereof. I have a good kid who doesn’t steal and neither did I as a kid.
The craziest thing I ever did was TP Dan Lavelle’s house in 6th grade (if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. It wasn’t MY idea though..peer pressure at a sleep-over!)
January 18th, 2013 at 8:53 am
Chris Johnston,
I think I agree with you after reading the article.
Shit, I think I would pay the two criminals ten bucks just so they would tell me where they did the deed so I could clean up after them.
eww
lefty
January 18th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
These children are shining examples of the future of our great country.
January 18th, 2013 at 3:33 pm
sigh… I can not think of much else to say. I doubt these kids will ever be corrected, so I guess we’ll see how they turn out once their legal. I wonder if the police take bets on if these kids will be the new town trouble makers in their 20′s and 30′s?
January 18th, 2013 at 7:52 pm
Perhaps. But maybe not. I’ve been rather surprised at the number of people I went to school with who did really stupid things at that age (worse than this, in some cases) that turned out to be quite functional adults. Not all of them, granted, but more than I would have expected.
January 18th, 2013 at 8:50 pm
Well, biologically speaking, there’s nothing unnatural about theft. Humans sure do and have always done a heck of a lot of it. So strictly speaking, those two charmers are correct. And when I think back on the amount of shoplifting teens did in my little rural town 40 years ago, it doesn’t seem like much has changed except maybe the boldness of breaking and entering vs. stuffing something under a winter jacket.
My experience matches yours, Tim. I know years-past teenage shoplifters who would today be appalled to be reminded of what they did. I even know a couple of teenage break and entry thieves. One’s now an Ivy League college professor and one’s an attorney. Neither of which means they’ve changed their ways, I know (ha!), but at least now they’re legal.
January 18th, 2013 at 9:01 pm
And I forgot to answer your question, Bill. I didn’t shoplift as a teen–I was a moralizing scold by that point, and scared of my parents to boot–and certainly didn’t break and enter. I got it out of my system early when I stole at about age 10 a small cherry snack pie that my mother declined to buy for me. It wasn’t much fun jamming that gummy thing into my mouth late that night in the dark, in my bed. And I remember sneaking into my neighbor’s unlocked house–only temporarily abandoned, as they’d gone into town to do buy some feed–with the express purpose of stealing a handful of those delicious carrot cookies Norma made. I was apparently a child of raging appetites.
Now that I think of it, I also pocketed a bunch of cool stuff like cosmetics and albums and t-shirts and even A TRANSISTOR RADIO!! that the kids who attended what I thought of as a rich city kids’ camp, where I had a summer job cleaning toilets, deliberately left beyond. I was amazed that they would just abandon so much good stuff. But it was definitely against the rules, and I knew that, so…yes, I too was a teenage thief. But apparently much smarter or sneakier than the Farmington Duo, as I never got caught.
January 19th, 2013 at 10:00 am
The big problem with breaking into a home is that it is a felony and Minneosta State Statute 609.065 (Justifiable Taking of Life) specifically calls out that it’s o.k. to kill someone if you are preventing the commission of a felony in your place of abode.
Now granted, that is a big over simplification, as there are many other laws and judgements that require you to retreat if possible (though 609.065 doesn’t say that). The point is, some people are gonna have it in their head that if you are breaking into their home, they have every right in the nation to kill you.
So, it probably is not a good idea to be breaking into peoples homes. Teach your children well.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.065