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Teens broke into a vacant home, threw a party while family was out of town
While Michael and Jennifer were away on vacation, teenagers broke into their home that's for sale, threw a party and caused damage. FOX 10's Justin Lum reports.
SURPRISE, Ariz. - A Surprise family was on vacation when they saw social media posts of teens breaking into their home and throwing a party on Saturday night.
All Jennifer and Michael want to do is sell their home, but instead, they're victims of what police call a growing trend.
"It's time and energy and money that you put into your house to get ready to sell it. Keeping it, like, spotless. It's a lot of work to sell your house."
Jennifer and Michael, who don't want their last names used, say their For Sale sign along with no cars in the driveway made them targets.
All it took was a Snapchat post to circulate over the weekend, along with maps and notes to lead teens to a house party in Surprise.
"Someone's in my house. You just destroyed the sanctity of my home and then you're bound because I'm 300 miles from the house and there's only so much I can do via phone," Michael said.
Luckily, the homeowners recognized their address and videos of the party inside their house.
The family immediately called the police, but not before they say the teenagers arrived, cut the power, and broke inside, causing thousands of dollars of damage.
"They tore up the window screen, they caved in my AC unit, they tried to get into the safe, random money in my nightstand is gone, ammunition is gone," Michael said.
Jennifer and Michael feel violated. They still have to sell the house and they have concerns. Could this happen again?
"I already saw that they tried to get into my gun safe, so would they want to come back and try more? Somebody that's in the process of selling my house and knowing that they're targeting houses with For Sale signs, do I have to worry about it again?"
Michael says his neighbor has 120 videos and pictures of cars driving to his home and turning around once they saw police there.
One teenager was arrested for second-degree burglary and was released. The homeowners say they'll press charges, but they're thankful this situation didn't turn out worse.
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