This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/Available_Risk_3388 on 2023-09-12 05:32:01.
I own and live on a piece of land that’s fairly rural. One kid in the area is a huge nuisance, and has been for over a year now. He constantly trespasses, drinks and smokes, and messes with my animals (he let out one of my goats once, causing her to go missing for several days).
I’ve tried to speak to his parents about it, but they give me the whole “kids will be kids” spiel and vaguely promise to “talk to him” about it, but nothing ever changes.
A couple of months back, I finally reached my limit when he came onto my land with a BB gun and shot at my chickens for fun. I called the cops on him, and decided to press charges for the trespassing and animal cruelty.
Apparently, this has caused him to lose a scholarship that had some sort of good citizenship/ethics/behavioral clause. His parents have been coming round now, asking me to drop the charges and begging me because they need the money.
I personally feel like he needs to learn a lesson. It’s not like he got kicked out of his college, he just needs to take out loans now to stay. I told his parents that this should be a wake up call for him (and them) to learn about consequences. But they’re calling me an AH for ruining their child’s future, and setting him up for failure because now he’ll graduate with debt.
He did come around and apologize with his parents once, so my girlfriend thinks I should drop it. But I feel like he’s only doing it because he’s desperate, and if I let it go I’ll only teach him that he can bully, whine, and plead his way out. But on the other hand, my chickens are technically fine and he hasn’t come round my land lately.