TLDR:

There's an old man, with whom I've had previous run-ins, stealing rocks out of my yard and teaching his grandson to be a scofflaw.



The above image is my driveway. There's a no trespassing sign obviously, and I started putting up that "rope" (1" webbing that I had laying around) across the driveway because someone was trespassing so I figured that would keep people from just driving in.



When I came home today my neighbor, and a young boy, had taken down the rope and were trespassing on my property.

I know the old man well. He's upper 70's, maybe 80's? He's owned a vacation home in the area for 40 yrs. All of his kids ( 5 kids I think) have their own vacation lake front houses in the area. Additionally, the old man owns quite a few vacant land parcels in the area, some of which abut my property.

The old man acts as though he owns the entire community, does whatever he pleases, and treats his neighbors like ****. I first met him when I heard him dumping his garbage in a community owned ravine between between his property and mine. I took video of him standing in his truck throwing black garbage bags in the ravine. I then walked up and confronted him (our first meeting) and he stood there and told me to my face he wasn't dumping garbage. our relationship hasn't been good since that day.

I've since caught him trespassing multiple times. he likes to drive in my other driveway, hang out in his vehicle for 5-10 minutes looking around, and then leave. He recently missed the driveway on his way out, nearly rolled his truck in my yard, and ran over some of my landscaping lights. Yes, "I'm an old stay off my yard" man.

When I came home today I saw a side by side on my property. When I pulled up to the driveway it was obvious my rope was taken down. I knew right away who it was. I parked in the entrance to the driveway and began taking some pics for OTT.

The part I'm having the biggest problem with is that the old man wasn't alone.In the 2nd pic you can see a (unidentifiable) boy trying to run away. As soon as the boy saw me get out my camera he took off running. I'm 99% sure that is the old man's grandson. I'd guess the kid is 10-12 yrs old.

I got out and talked to the old man:

dc: "Can I help you?"

tt: (trespassing thief) " We're just out here collecting rocks to put in a flower bed."

dc: " ( not a question) You know this is private property."

tt: "We're just picking up rocks."

dc : " (Incorrectly think I'm being clever). I wouldn't go into your yard when you're not home and take things. Why would you?"

tt: "We're just picking up some rocks."

At this point I was at a loss as to what to do. I wasn't, and am still not, prepared to escalate the situation. I've dealt with the old man before and his mo is to just not respond, or in this case simply saying the same thing like he's pulling some Jedi mind ****.

dc: " You're trespassing."

tt: " We'll never come back."

At that point the kid got back in the side by side (he was the driver) and they left.


A clarification, when I say they were picking up rocks I'm referring to landscape rocks and boulders 10lb+. Rocks that have a value for retaining walls that I'm building.

After the incident, I drove down to the other road to my property. While that road is public it dead ends at my other driveway. I recently had a bunch of excavation work done on my land in that area. As a result I had a stack of landscaping boulders probably 4' tall. All of those rocks were gone.


As I see it I have 3 options:

1. Escalate and file trespassing and theft charges with the sheriff. I don't want to do this because I don't want to get involved with the sheriff and a bunch of bs that will just waste my time. I also don't want to have to involve this *******'s grandson in this.

2. Contact his son and ask him to take care of this.. I've dealt with his son a couple times before over his father's doucheyness. His son is a smart, well off, business professional. I'd say we're on friendly terms. That said, he hasn't reigned in his father in the past.

3. Just do what Villian would do.

How you pull this off, I don’t know. But the answer is to put a tomato on his pillow.

Neighbors like this are how decent people end up in prison for murder.

Is this guy related to the poachers or a new property? I remember you saying you were going to sell the poaching problem property.

Yeah. I'm not sure that a lathe would faze this sumbitch. Maybe just get a sledgehammer and bust up all your big rocks so that he won't want to steal them; but then you may have to deal with neighborhood gravel thieves.

This.

Reciprocating saw, large plastic containers, and lots of lime. A backhoe might come in handy, too.

Of course you file trespassing and theft charges......after you buy a gun.

Why do you people not have guns?

Here in Texas no one is ever trying to trespass because they would get their ass shot off, there is no ****ing around with going on other people's property.

This situation will be resolved with you pulling a gun on the guy and firing a warning shot a couple of times. If he comes back a third time shoot him in the knee cap.

With your mental history, why do you have guns?

That is theft. He would probably call the cops on you, first chance he got.

I would suggest you go get your rocks back. Of course, your neighbor, being a thief, is probably the type of person who will shoot you the minute you step on his property. You could just go to him, explain to him that he is stealing and demand your property back. Perhaps you could contact the sheriff first.
You could also set up some motion cameras to actually catch him in the act when he comes back. Nest has some fairly cheap options. Just don't be taken advantage of and don't resort to violence except to defend yourself. Property isn't worth it, generally.
As someone who does rock work for fun and has to buy most of the stone, them rocks are not cheap.

This is the property where I had issues with poachers. This man is not related to the poachers, nor is he a hunter. Separate issue. The poaching problem resolved itself after I kept taking down their hunting stands and selling them on Craigslist.

I have zero intention of shooting an old man and a child, who are of no physical threat to me, over stealing rocks out of my yard.

I'll keep the warning shots and shooting to wound in my back pocket though.

Any chance there are any points where actual gates across your road would stop them? From the pics, it does not look like that would be an effective option.

motion cameras, no trespassing signs, and then prosecute him.

Kind of. Gates were already on the list of projects for this spring. There is a lot of area where someone could easily drive onto the property without going thru the gates.

Part of that project is to put landscaping boulders along the road as a type of barrier or fence. Assuming I still have any left.

Not sure what good motion cameras would do. I have photos of him trespassing and stealing while his grandson runs off, as well as a confession. He drove within 10' of the no trespassing sign in my 1st photo.

Maybe the old fart would sell you some of his.

It looks like gates might work for full-size vehicles but maybe not for four-wheelers etc, but you know your property and we only have a snapshot view here. The old guy may be too old to be bouncing around steep inclines on four-wheelers, so maybe that would be enough for the time being. I don't suppose you have any idea who will be the property owner when the old guy croaks? Hope it isn't the larcenous grandson.

Good luck! Terrible issue to have to deal with.

What is the approx. retail value of all of the rocks that are missing?

motion cameras with microphones streamed to AWS account with access link posted in this thread

speaker with audio streaming capability with access link posted in this thread


this solution will allow OTT to monitor and respond to the problem in real time, including conversing with old man rock thief. what could possibly go wrong


also, call his son

This is how episodes of "Fear Thy Neighbor" start. They don't end well. Maybe you could get some pointers from watching.

How about some fishing line near the ground so the old man trips and breaks a hip? Or put a rock through his window.

I was also thinking to attack the hips. It’s where the olds are most vulnerable, and if you crack one good, it’s basically a death sentence.

This is a situation that requires very careful analysis and consideration of all viable options ...

Option 1: Not sure how effective this might be, but hire a sheriff's deputy to put down one of those spikey things that police lay across a road when they want to blow a fleeing suspect's tires. As long as his tires are blown while he's trespassing on your property, he doesn't have a [legal] leg to stand on. (The downside of this approach is that he'll seek revenge and escalate the situation until somebody gets shot.)

Option 2: Consult an attorney with a view toward bringing a lawsuit (for damages) against this man. The downside of this approach is that an attorney may be reluctant to handle such a case - unless this man has deep pockets. (If a lawyer agrees to handle this, he may insist that you have concealed video cameras set up in order to obtain rock solid evidence against this old man.) If you can afford it, the lawyer may want to hire a private investigator to monitor this guy and obtain evidence. This approach could be quite expensive, so you have to weigh the value of your rocks against the cost of the lawyer and a PI.

Option 3: If he's really driving you crazy, consider hiring a mafia enforcer to rough him up a bit until he "gets the message" and stops stealing your rocks. Going that route can be expensive. It can also end badly for you if the enforcer gets carried away and [accidently] kills the old man. (If the enforcer kills the old man because he thought you hired him to perform a hit, he'll turn state's evidence against you and you'll be the one who winds up going to the electric chair.)

Option 4: Hire a hooker to entice this man into a "compromising position" in a motel room. Have the spectacle filmed and threaten to send a copy of the tape to his wife if he doesn't stop trespassing on your property and stealing your rocks. (The downside of this option is that he may burn down your house in an effort to destroy the tape.)

Option 5: If you don't mind spending the money, pay a sheriff's deputy - or the sheriff himself - to stake out your property and catch this guy in the act. (A low-paid sheriff's deputy may be willing to do this on his day off.) If a law enforcement officer catches this guy in the act, (after you have diligently filed several prior complaints), a judge may decide to let him spend a month in jail. Confinement in the clink might cure him of his desire to steal your rocks.

Option 6: Since he obviously considers your rocks to be of some value - he's willing to break the law and risk bodily harm in order to obtain them - offer to sell them. He may be willing to pay a mutually agreeable price for your rocks. Problem solved.

Option 7: Given all these not-so-palatable options, your best play might be to just ignore him. I have a feeling he may be doing this simply because he knows he's getting under your skin. Some people get a vicarious sense of satisfaction - kind of like reverse Schadenfreude - in knowing that they're driving someone crazy. The more you react to their provocations, the more likely they are to continue.

NOTE: Options 1-6 are offered with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

No idea what option #3 means, get him hooked on drugs and let him move in with you?

From what you've said, no "reasonable" option exists. Cameras, cameras, cameras, lawyers, lawyers, lawyers. That's if you want to deal with it in an upstanding manner. Option #2 is kind of funny, because, like, have you not already tried that? You just thought that was an effective solution but posted to OOT without doing it? So yeah, option #2, that an absentee son, whose father is a flaming *******, will suddenly reign in his father's behavior seems like a fantasy. All of the mention about a 12-year old is superfluous. Who gives a ****? Any actual consequences of whatever the outcome of this conflict will be will not fall on the kid. If he learns to be a decent person, great, but it's not like he'll go to jail or something, so who cares?

I just don't think there's a shortcut here. If you are the victim of a crime, and want to deal with it in a legal way, then gather your evidence of the crime and go to the authorities. If you don't care about any of that, there's all kinds of ways to deal with it. But you make it seem like you've got a neighbor who is determined to skirt the law, repeatedly, and you want to deal with it in an upstanding matter. You're always going to lose in that case, so shove your reaction in one way or another: either document everything and lawyer up, or put a spike strip on your driveway.

Put up cameras and make at least some of them obvious. Verify with the old man, his son, and the police that the man has been warned for trespassing, you've set up cameras, and if it happens again you'll bring the footage to the authorities and sue him for the cost of the rocks. If old man still wants some at that point he gets what he deserves.

Or, a hidden camera, a pile of bait rocks, a sign that says "rocks $1000 each", profit.

Get a giant Indiana Jones boulder that gets triggered to chase their asses down the hill when they grab the initially desired rocks.

Then what's the issue? Go to the sheriff, tell him the problem, show him the evidence and go from there. If it continues, you have recourse. If this goes nowhere, then you have to get more creative. Quit being a ninny.
*** that old man

This guy is laughing his ass off at you. I'm not even involved and it pisses me off.