There is an old saying, what’s mine is yours.
“It is super frustrating that somebody had the audacity to steal from you,” says Danny Mason. “Coming home and realizing that something is gone.”
That saying does not apply here.
“It was super violating,” says Mason.
“It is easy to understand the property owners frustration,” says Defense Attorney Dan Monnat.
Two years ago, a Porch Pirate struck Mason and stole his projector screen.
“It is not funny, but it was almost comical seeing this idiot carrying this giant package and putting it in his little car,” says Mason.
People like Mason are getting tired of this. By now, you have probably heard of people putting cat litter in a package, waiting for a thief to steal a nasty prize. Something else that has popped up on social media is a glitter bomb. A device created by an Ex-NASA engineer who had a package stolen from him. The package explodes with glitter to shame the victim.
“I love it,” Mason says. “I think everyone should do it.”
“Property owners are too angry, too biased, and too invested to fairly meet out how much punishment is due the thief or trespassers,” says Monnat.
What if the thief gets hurt? What if they wreck their car after opening the glitter bomb?
“Imagine the same thing but now the thief collides with a small child riding his or her bicycle and kills the child?” Monnat asks.
Monnat says depending on what happens, you could face an endangerment charge which carries up to a year in jail and $2,500 fine. Worst case? A felony Class A or B aggravated reckless battery charge. A level five charge with no criminal history could land you in prison for up to nine months. A level eight charge could land you in prison for up to 34 months.
“I could not imagine very many judges siding with the thief,” says Mason.
“Who gets hurt?” asks Monnat. “How badly do they get hurt?”
Monnat has some strong advice, don’t be the person who finds out.
“Let us leave it to the law,” he says.
