Location: Somerset County, Maine, USA. My neighbor was caught breaking into my house on camera. He broke in because we unplugged an extension cord running from his garage to our barn. We unplugged the cord and flipped our breaker to shut power off to the barn. (He was doing this because he was kicked out of his house, which is now vacant, and he is squatting in his own garage.) The same night, he broke in and plugged the extension cord back in and broke the door between the house and the barn to go into our basement and flip the breaker back on. We suspect that he was also the one who cut our copper piping, stole our power tools, generator, shop vac, rototiller, and lawn mower. This was all obviously very expensive to us and I don’t think the county is working the case at all. I was the one who caught him on camera breaking in. Is there any way we can recover the cost from repairing the plumbing, our valuables he stole, and the power bill? Should it be escalated to the state? I am very unimpressed with the county. They have been incredibly unhelpful other than when they arrested him. What can I do, if anything?
Comments
Sue him
Call the prosecutor on his case and furnish the prosecutor with evidence of the losses he caused to you. Ask the prosecutor to ask the judge in his criminal case to order him to pay restitution to you for your losses caused by his crimes. Unfortunately, if he has no money you might not be able to collect (at least not immediately).
I’d say Sue him but if he’s living in an abandoned house, he probably doesn’t have a pot to piss in