LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. — A 17-year-old has been charged with trespassing, along with loitering and prowling, after he jumped over a fence and into a neighbor’s yard in the Lake Padgett Estates East neighborhood Thursday.
- Teen accused of trying to film video on covering surveillance cameras
- 17-year-old charged with trespassing, loitering, prowling
- Teen told deputy he makes "funny" or "prank" videos
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According to an arrest report, the teen went to various homes to film a YouTube video on how to cover up residential surveillance cameras.
“I think it’s crazy. It’s a good thing we got the cameras,” said Doug Blar, whose property the teen is accused of trespassing.
Blar said his own surveillance equipment recorded the teen walking across his back yard.
His home is one of many in the neighborhood that had a visible smart doorbell or camera. A number of neighbors described the area as quiet and said security wasn’t the main reason they invested in their systems.
“It’s more to surveil my child, who likes to play in the pool and the yard,” said neighbor John Volpe. “Obviously, the security measure is welcome.”
Volpe said he was surprised to hear about the allegations against the teen.
“I don’t see how they could actually do it because they have to walk up to it to cover it,” Volpe said.
Marcos Tores said he doesn’t have home cameras and that neighbors typically look out for one another.
“It’s a crazy thing to do, but then, we live in a world where everybody’s trying to find a way to get around things,” Tores said of the teen’s arrest.
The teen can be heard in Pasco Sheriff’s body camera video telling deputies that he makes “funny” or “prank” videos for his YouTube blog. Blar said he doesn’t view the incident as a joke.
“Definitely going to step it up a little more. Maybe even get more,” he said of his own cameras.
The teen was also arrested on a Hillsborough County warrant for trespass in an unoccupied structure.