Criminal Mischief Accusation

[JDallago]

My question involves small claims court in the state of: Iowa

This case involves 11 of my friends and I, and one irresponsible night of mischief. One night at a party, this group of 12 kids wanted to have some fun by doing an activity that is common among teenagers of any generation, "TP"ing. We bought "X" amount of toilet paper rolls and "X" amount of eggs from the near by Walmart, and set off to a house in a small town. There we thoroughly TPed a house, as well as threw eggs at their drive way, and put an excessive amount of soap on their windows.

First of all I now realize how juvenile and stupid these actions were, and I find myself continually reinforcing my negative feelings towards my actions. The main reason we were caught, is one of the cars that we used to transport ourselves was caught after the act. One of the three kids in the car openly admitted to TPing early, thus linking us to the house that night and the damage that followed. The admittance of this person to being at the scene that night, led to the 11 other people involved to be introduced into the case.

About three days after that night, the man contacted a local Service Master, to decide on an amount of money to charge us for reparations. He said that the quote was about $1080.00. This was for about 7 hours of work, on his part, to clean it up. It was on a weekend, so he didn't miss work, and he also did not pay for any materials to clean up the mess.

I called him up the next day, and asked to arrange a meeting. He said he would contact me when he was ready. That was over a month an a half ago. He just called me tonight to confirm that he wanted to have a meeting. He also mentioned that the other day he had found a scratch on his wifes BMW, that he claims was made by an egg. This scratch he says adds $550.00 to the charges for reparations.

What I need help with is this. First of all does he have any right to charge us this sum of money for the amount we did (6 toilet paper rolls were found and about 15-20 eggs)? Also keep in mind that many of us did not do very much at all. I also want to know what I can do to fight it, or get the amount lowered. Do you think he will bend if we come up with our own total and threaten a small claims trial if he does not accept(This total will be within reason of course)? I am also wondering if he is even able to charge us after a month and a half of waiting, and is it ok for him to just add another $550.00 to the sum after this period of time?

I would really appreciate it if you could give me any information to help my situation at all.

Thank you,
JD

P.S.- The meeting is this Friday, so any pointers on discussion with this guy would be much appreciated.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can pay what he asks, attempt to negotiate a lesser amount, or refuse and see if he sues you or tries to have you prosecuted.