Deputies Arrest Teens After Massive House Party
By Tom Mustin
PARKER, Colo. (CBS4) - Mike Cox is still surveying the damage after strangers held a house party inside his Parker home.
Some of the teenagers have since been arrested.
"There were beer cans, liquor bottles, wine bottles, everywhere," said Cox.
"You come home and find that 200 or 300 kids have broken into your house and torn it to pieces," Cox told CBS4's Tom Mustin.
Cox's home is for sale. Saturday night he and his wife returned from dinner to a raging party inside their home.
Snapchat video shows several hundred teens dancing and spraying Cox's champagne inside the home.
"There's video of 5, 6 kids on top of this counter top, squirting champagne all over my house," he said.
Shattered windows, cracked tiles, and stained ceilings are just part of the damage caused by the uninvited guests.
"It's tens of thousands of dollars," Cox said.
Neighbors called police after the party raged out of control.
When Cox arrived at the home, he found several Douglas County deputies at the scene, and teenagers pouring from his home.
He says his dogs were inside, and are still traumatized. Deputies found six teens hiding in the basement closet after trying to escape.
"Seeing these kids at my kitchen table where we eat, it just sent me over the top. I was screaming at them. My wife was in tears. It was devastating," said Cox.
He believes the teenagers had seen his home for sale online and assumed it was unoccupied.
They advertised the party on social media, then reportedly broke in through the back door.
The sheriff's office says many of the partygoers were from Denver East High School. Cox says others were from nearby Ponderosa High School.
"I wish their parents could feel what this feels like. The violation… it's just shameful," he said.
Cox and his wife spent months preparing the house to sell, painting the home and repairing floors.
"Now we're having to pull it off the market. A lot of the work we've done has been undone," said Cox.
Since the party, Cox says he, his wife and son are living in fear.
"No one's sleeping very well. You don't know if they have our address, if they're going to come back," he told Mustin.
And after a night of horror in his home, Cox says he won't rest until the teenagers in the video are found and punished.
"We're going to go after them with everything we can legally to make this right," said Cox.
He says some of the teens have already been identified. The teens arrested face burglarizing and underage drinking charges.
Tom Mustin is CBS4's Weekend Anchor. He has been with CBS4 since 2002, and is always looking for great story ideas. Connect with Tom on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @TomCBS4.