In the age of Facebook and Twitter, a new crime has hit America: "Sharpie parties," gatherings of party revelers armed with "Sharpie" magic markers and lured by social media invitations to wreak havoc on foreclosed homes.
Five years into the U.S. foreclosure crisis, Sharpie parties are a new form of blight on the landscape of boarded-up homes, brown lawns and abandoned streets. They are also the latest iteration of collective home-trashing spurred by social media.
At least six Sharpie parties were reported in one California county in recent months, where invitations posted online drew scores to foreclosed homes.
The partygoers are handed Sharpie pens on arrival by their hosts and urged to graffiti the walls - a destructive binge that often prompts other acts of vandalism including smashing holes in walls and doors, flooding bathrooms and ripping up floors.
The California spree follows a similar outbreak earlier this year, when teenagers wrecked homes in states including Texas, Florida and Utah after seeing the movie Project X. The film features a house wrecking party sparked by online invitations.
Anna Hazel, an investigator in the Merced district attorney's office in central California, said the use of social media is a very effective way for partygoers to find the address and to track the progress of the party.
It also provides a treasure trove of evidence for the police.
Hazel said in her most recent case of "extensive destruction" to a foreclosed property, the host of the Sharpie party posted an invitation to "Matt's House of Mayhem" on a Facebook page.
See How One Home Was Trashed During a 'Sharpie Party'
At least 100 people turned up. Hundreds of smartphone text messages describing the party were also sent.
They drank alcohol, scrawled profanities on walls, smashed glass, tore up parts of the house and left garbage strewn everywhere.
"We obtained search warrants for Facebook accounts," Hazel said. "It was very useful to us to get access to the social networks. They posted pictures of the party. They were brazen about it."
Three men, aged 21, 24 and 30, were arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism, burglary and conspiracy. One of them was the son of the evicted former owner.
"The Sharpie party is the newest twist here," said Larry Morse, the district attorney in Merced County, California. Morse said he has investigated vandalized homes after six "Sharpie parties" in recent months.
Andy Krotic, a Californian realtor, said: "It's a growing fad among young people, especially the Twitter crowd. They throw a big party, everyone gets a Sharpie, and they are invited to write on the walls and spray paint."
Krotic said in one recent case partygoers shot arrows through the wall, hitting a room in a neighbor's house.
Banks that own the foreclosed homes are reluctant to pursue the perpetrators, Krotic says, because they don't have the resources to hunt down the miscreants. Even if they're caught, the unwanted publicity from their prosecution would likely incite more parties.
"Usually they leave the damage and just drop the price," Krotic said.
Why not just trash the trashers? Tatoo them with a bunch of graffi and that's their sentence. They go through life with it totally viewable by everyone.
At first I thought you were kidding. But then I thought about it. As long as they know who the kids are, the justice system could give them a choice: Go to jail or get tattooed. And the kid has to pay for his own tattoos, a big one on each arm. Justice with a capital "J." Kid has no choice of tattoos.
Things like: "I am a vandal." "I ruined a house." "I should have gone to jail."
How so very Taliban of you. And would you also cut off the right hand of every thief, stone to death adulterers, and provide a sentence of public hanging for other crimes? If so, you may leave the USA and its Constitution, to find a more like-minded place to live.
The vandals,when caught should be punished by remodeling the whole house,plus probation for life!!!plus attend a yoga retreat,to bring themselves to reality!!
Don't speak until it happens to you- I was a witness for the Federal Government against my Fraudulent Fortune 500 employer, laid off, unemployment is not paying me after being an excellent employee, UCSF took over 5 months to give me my retirement, Bank of America, wont work with me, they tried foreclosing on me twice since they made multiple errors, my attorney after a year almost two years now says he may not be able to my case, my mom died, right after I had surgery of tumors in my abdomen, so every time something happens now I bash a wall in the house to take out my frustration, since there is no help for me, Iv'e been screwed by everybody, I'm now treated like a looser and gutter scum ALL BECAUSE I WAS A WHISTLE BLOWER. THERE IS NO STORY MORE CLEAR, THAN IF YOUR HONEST, YOU WILL BE PENALIZED FOREVER. I WILL BE HOMELESS SOON & THEN I'LL BE MURDERED AND MY FORMER CEO WILL CELEBRATE RIGHT LORENE, HOWS THAT NEW PROMOTION? LORENE SUCH BE CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER! Bank of America will LOVE their house when I'm done!
Here is a perfect example of how the media spreads the word. Of the thousands and maybe millions of people who read this, I am sure some of them will come away with suggestions of how to trash real estate and will follow through with it. Sad, very sad.
think about your brand (no pun) of punishment. these miscreants are probably tattooed with little room for more. a free tattoo? line them up; they love it
. their punishment? restitution for damage done, number one. maybe some time in a small cell with some rather large companions. much community service; the real stuff though. hospice work? disinfecting animal holding pens? someone must have a truly appropriate "cure" for these entitled brats?
My wife and i hit hard times in the middle of this ressestion lost our job low hours etc...We lost our home 2 and a half years ago..Our mortgage co (big bank!) took money out of our acount 2 times when we told them to stop!! Needles to say we could not catch up!!we still are not foreclosed yet to this day...You would hope the banks would work to keep the people in there homes like our mortgage co did not help us at all!!!! so property's are left alone and to rot!! So they get vandalized and god knows what.We pretty much are back on our feet but wont be able to get into a home for a long time its a shame that hundreds of homes are left to waist!!
Shades of "The Scarlet Letter"! A terrific idea except the liberals and idiots will scream....violation of individual rights! The sad part about all is is that the folks who walked away from their debts are often behind the destruction in one way or another. They are not only irresponsible but inane. Destroying the place you bought and knew you couldn't make the payments on is beyond stupid. And within seven years or sooner, they will do the same thing all over again.
by Lisa from California - August 19th 2012 @ 10:31PM
I read this twice, and watched the video several times as well. I started thinking...huh?, every behavior has a root cause. What part do the unscrupulous-sub prime mortgage bankers/loan companies. Are they the ones that set the whole situation in motion, by giving out mortgages like free candy. Eventually, the honest homeowner gets foreclosed/evicted. Teens are part of the families evicted, or personally know friends that have suffered this humiliating circumstance. It seems hard for me to understand how any person of any age (teen,young adult, homeowner)could continue to respect what he may feel, sadly, as "This is how you *&^%'d my family, so this is how I'm going to get even with you". Reasonable? Yes Excusable? No. I would like to see the "too big to fail" clean up team come in!
That would be novel. This behavior has been happening in Vegas for 5 - 6 years now. Mostly rental properties for low or no income people. The great destroyers. I guess it's in their genes.
Most people don't understand. We all own these properties! The idiots doing this are doing this to themselves. The banks don't care. Almost every mortgage is Federally backed by the US Government. Guess what we are the US Government. The US Government taxes us and then guaranties the mortgages to the banks. These people and you, if you are doing it, are simply screwing all of us. How stupid is that. It is our job to guard these homes. Quit being stupid! And worse, this kind of article promotes this type of behavior. This article is discusting. If you have a home in your neighborhood that has gone back to the bank. Realize that it really went back to you. The bank could care less. Fight to protect it. Call the police if you see something going on. These are your tax dollars going down the drain. Jim
If my mom was living and had this happened when she was selling real estate she would've had the guilty parties pay for the damage they'd done whether it be monetary or thru sweat labor cleaning up their mess. She was one tough cookie to deal with, she didn't compromise when it came to folks doing wrong. Plain and simple she just didn't give a damn who you were you do wrong you pay for it.
Unfortunately the damage you described was done to the house next to us but it was done by the owners children. They were allowed to write all over the walls, urinate on everything and destroy the whole house. The worst thing about this is they were living there the whole time. Now the house is going up for a short sale and everybody loses.
You can never keep something like this quiet and eventually these kids will 'grow' up and have kids of their own. Guess what? Somebody will make sure your kids know what you did years before. How embarrassing to have your children know that you, their parents, are nothing but trash.
