11-year-old boy arrested for doing $10,000 damage to construction site

Updated Aug 26, 2014
This painted-over window is just one example of damage done by an 11-year-old boy at a jobsite in South Dakota. Credit: Brandon Van Western/Keloland TVThis painted-over window is just one example of damage done by an 11-year-old boy at a jobsite in South Dakota. Credit: Brandon Van Western/Keloland TV

Vandalism on construction sites is an unfortunately common intrusion that contractors everywhere have to deal with every once in a while. But very few are the handiwork of a grade-schooler like one recent incident in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

On the morning of August 12 a crew building a series of one bedroom homes arrived at the site where they found a great deal of damage. According to a report from The Argus Leader, the crew found “damaged doors and windows, and cans of paint splattered onto several different surfaces.”

Police talked with neighbors around the construction site who said it was the work of an 11-year-old boy who lives in the area. Officers went to the boy’s home where they found him covered in dry paint. They arrested the boy and charged him with third-degree burglary and a felony—intentional damage to property.

Keloland TV has posted a small gallery of photos of the damage the boy did.

Case closed? Not quite. The Argus Leader reports police are still on the lookout for one more suspect in the case.