MERIDIAN — A vandal put a damper on one Meridian family's Halloween spirit last weekend when they destroyed some of their decorations.
The Keeths are understandably upset after the culprit targeted their home and pulled a pretty dangerous maneuver.
Unfortunately, it’s tricks more than treats for the Keeths this year. More than anything they are disappointed, left feeling violated and a little uneasy.
But the real trick may be on the culprit: his whole act was caught on camera.
“We're the only one nearby that had lights. I think they were just driving around looking for decorations and, of nearby houses, ours was only one that was lit up,” Michael Keeth told KTVB. “I think they just wanted to cause mayhem.”
They say a young vandal targeted their house Sunday night around 8:45 when they were home.
“They cut this wire and while this happened it was live so not exactly the safest thing to do and they were cutting with a knife. Metal on electrical wires – that’s great,” Michael said. “Then they moved over after that and cut electrical wires on this – which, again, was also live. I unplugged it after the fact.”
"I was just like, wow, this person idiotic. You're cutting live electrical wires. My second thought I was like glad those wires weren't shorting together the way they left them because if the wrong strands touched, it could have started a fire,” Michael added.
“It made me really antsy, one, that they would damage our property on purpose, and then once my spouse pointed out it’s an open wire I thought, oh my gosh they're on the dry bushes,” Michael’s wife, Erin, said.
Erin and Michael Keeth didn't realize the lights were out for a few days.
“There’s a camera right there and I immediately started going back until I could see lights lit up on the camera,” Michael said.
For Erin, she's bummed because she put effort and time into her decorations.
"Mostly disappointed. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I like to deck it out,” Erin said. “To see it get snipped is a real downer. I don't have a lot of time to put up decorations so probably just going to let them sit there. Kind of killed it.”
"They weren't doing it with malicious intent toward me but rather mischievous intent and that's a bummer because I mean, dude, why you killing the Halloween spirit? Just trying to enjoy stuff.”
And for her husband it's not as much about the display - it's about the danger.
“They’re not super expensive. It's more the fact somebody would feel like they could do that to our property. That is the more concerning thing,” Michael said.
"People feel violated when you enter their property and either destroy or steal their items,” Boise Police Sgt. Nick Duggan said.
“They feel safe in the community so when somebody is out vandalizing their stuff or smashing pumpkins or taking their stuff, it kind of gives them an [in]security feeling. We live in a relatively safe community so it kind of hits the personal side, I guess, I would say,” Meridian Police Lt. Mark Ford told KTVB.
Sgt. Duggan says in Boise it fluctuates year-to-year, but there hasn’t been an uptick this year so far. Lt. Ford says in Meridian they see an increase in vandalism and reports of malicious injury to property this time of year.
Law enforcement officers’ advice is to keep your house and yard well lit, turn off your Halloween decorations when you go to bed, tie your decorations down and take the expensive ones inside.
“If you can't see them then probably not a house you're going to target,” Lt. Ford added.
Police also advise cutting back your bushes and landscape so people have fewer places to hide.
Meridian police haven't found the vandal yet but are searching for him.
The Keeths say a person in a nearby neighborhood posted about someone stealing decorations and their description of the guy sounds similar.