Teens Vandalize, Urinate In Vacant Novato Home; House Party Leaves Thousands Of Dollars In Damage
NOVATO (CBS SF) -- Teenagers who broke into a newly-purchased Novato house to throw a party have reportedly left a young family with tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
An invitation on Snapchat went out on September 5th for teens to gather at what was described in the invite as an "abandoned home," according to a GoFundMe page set up to help with the damage expenses.
The home was not abandoned, but rather it had been recently bought and renovated, with the owners in the process of moving in, the website said.
The owner was quoted on a friend's Facebook page:
these kids broke into our home through a bathroom window...pushed out the screen and made our home theirs for the night. We just replaced the hardwood floors...had them stained...and now they are covered with white paint. We just had $10,000 of new duct work put into the home...we had yet to put the new registers on the vents...these kids poured beer and urinated down the vent system...we just had the circular driveway asphalted on the Friday before this happened $15,000...there is white paint all over and tire marks in the new asphalt...even though it was roped off. Property was stolen, furniture covered in paint, my kids clothes and belonging that they were so looking forward to seeing again (since they been in our storage unit) covered with paint and fire extinguisher dust.
A 42-inch flatscreen television was among the items stolen, the post said.
Damage and losses were estimated in the tens of thousands. The GoFundMe page created Tuesday had generated more than $1,000 in less than 24 hours.
A call to Novato Police was not immediately returned.
