Home Invasion, Strongarm Robbery, Etc.

[laurenamber]

What is the name of your state? Virginia

Hello. Last night, while my fiancee was asleep on the couch, 5 men kicked our front door in, physically attacked and beat him, and robbed him of all of our money by knifepoint. My fiancee got a good look at almost all of the suspects, and he recognized most of them from highschool. After we called the police, a detective showed up with a sleu of officers, questioning us. They separated my fiancee and I, as well as our neighbor. When they questioned my neighbor, they asked him about the "traffic" at our home. I assume he was talking about drugs, but who knows. I also heard the officer tell my fiancee that "things dont add up, and were on to you". We called the police for help, and instead we are being investigated! I am concerned that the police's motive is not to catch the suspects (whom we identified at the police station in a yearbook), but to instead, I suppose, investigate whether or not we sell drugs, which, might I add, is rediculous. Now, after finding one of the guy's pictures in the yearbook, the detective pulled his record (he had been arrested 4 times in the past 3 years for robbery of some kind). The next thing that came out of his mouth was "well, I will see if there is enough grounds to get a warrant". What more "ground" does he need???!!! MY FIANCEE PICKED HIS FACE OUT OF A YEARBOOK!!! We are too afraid to even sleep at our home, so we packed up all of our stuff, plus our kitty, and got out of there. On top of all of that, my leasing office will not let me break my lease, even though there have been many incidences there involving our saftey, in example: my car was burglarized not more than one week of moving in. There is also a drug addict that lives on the bottom floor, and he always knocks on our door asking for cigarettes and beers. My fiancee was once waiting for his boss to come pick him up, and he was assaulted by an unknown assailant (my fiancee DID get the best of HIM, though). In order to break the lease, they want over a grand from us. Our lease expires in December! What is a month and a half early? Pretty much, to break the lease, we will need A LOT OF CASH, because we would have to pay off the apartment, and then have a deposit/1st months rent/application fees for the new place. I am currently paying rent for an apartment that I am now too scared to live in, much less sleep in. My father is freaking out, telling me that the apartment complex should be sued for criminal negligence, and that he wants me to get out now**************....what a story. Anyways, my questions here are this:

Do you think justice is being served in this case, as the police are investigating our lifestyle, and not the criminals?

What type of charges can be brought up on the assailants? Home Invasion? Strongarmed Robbery? Conspiracy to commit a felony? Assault and Battery? What else, if you could add to these charges, and if not these charges, then what?

What type of sentences can be put upon the assailants, speaking that they have a record of robbery and assault and battery as a minor, and now they are adults?

Do I have grounds to break my lease? Could I sue the leasing office for negligence?

Finally, my last question would be "WHERE DO I START???" Can anyone help me find out what my rights are, and what is going to happen???

[JETX]

One of TRIPLICATE posts by this idiot.
For responses, go to: [url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=201462[/url]

[laurenamber]

[quote=JETX]One of TRIPLICATE posts by this idiot.
QUOTE]

Excuse me. What the hell is your problem. I may not be fancied to the way the judicial system works (as I am a law-abiding citizen), but I am NOT in any way an idiot. You do not know me, and you have no right to judge me. I have been traumatized by this incident, my life is in danger, and I need legal advice right away. I DO NOT, however, have the desire OR need to recieve sniveling, rude, antagonistic remarks from you. If you want to give me advice, so be it. If not, take your sorry ass somewhere else.

That is all.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by laurenamber

I am NOT in any way an idiot.

Yes your are!!

You do not know me, and you have no right to judge me.

What makes you think I can't..... I can, and have. You are an idiot!!

I have been traumatized by this incident, my life is in danger, and I need legal advice right away.

Awww, poor baby!!! If that were even half true, you would have paid the $1k and moved your ass (and you!) out of that apartment!!

I DO NOT, however, have the desire OR need to recieve sniveling, rude, antagonistic remarks from you.

The proper spellign is RECEIVE!! Remember, i before e, except after c.

If you want to give me advice, so be it.

I have already given you far more advice (in just ONE of your TRIPLICATE posts) than I should have. But then, I am just a real sweetie at heart. Ask all my friends!!

If not, take your sorry ass somewhere else.

Sorry, but my ass is NOT sorry. I get compliments about it all the time. If fact, you'll find out when you come to EAT MY SHORTS!!!

That is all.

Damn, you sound like one of those old time announcements on a ship. "We are all going to drown. That is all!".

Oh, and guess what... this is STILL one of the TRIPLICATE posts by this idiot!!

[Shay-Pari'e]

Jetx,

Your not dawning your THONG for her?

[JETX]

Originally Posted by --PARIDISE--

Your not dawning your THONG for her?

Nope. I just do that on 'special' occasions. In this case, she gets the FULL shorts (pun intended)!!

[laurenamber]

I still dont understand why you think I am an idiot.

Originally Posted by laurenamber

I still dont understand why you think I am an idiot.

That impression could easily come from reading your posts.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by laurenamber

Hello. Last night, while my fiancee was asleep on the couch, 5 men kicked our front door in, physically attacked and beat him, and robbed him of all of our money by knifepoint.

How much money?

I also heard the officer tell my fiancee that "things dont add up, and were on to you". We called the police for help, and instead we are being investigated!

Honestly, very few "home invasion" type robberies are commited by strangers. Much of the time they are people the victim knows, and they have a reason to think that the victim would not call the police - this usually means drugs. And depending on the amount of money stolen, it is only natural that the police might raise an eyebrow at the robbery and question the circumstances.

I am concerned that the police's motive is not to catch the suspects (whom we identified at the police station in a yearbook), but to instead, I suppose, investigate whether or not we sell drugs, which, might I add, is rediculous.

Maybe. But, it is a natural line of questioning. Robbery generally has a motive, and there had to be some reason why these five guys would think that you and your fiance' might have enough cash to make it worth their while to rob you. AND, they apparently had sufficient cause to think that they would not be reported to the police ... why would that be?

The next thing that came out of his mouth was "well, I will see if there is enough grounds to get a warrant". What more "ground" does he need???!!! MY FIANCEE PICKED HIS FACE OUT OF A YEARBOOK!!!

A lesson from Civics 101 ... a JUDGE issues a warrant, not the police. The officer writes the affidavit and submits to the prosecutor who submites it to a judge. The judge decides if there is sufficient grounds to issue the warrant.

Depending on the elements included for the crime of robbery in your state, a simply ID of his face may not be entirely sufficient. It should be sufficient, but not always. A lot really does depend on the circumstances.

In order to break the lease, they want over a grand from us. Our lease expires in December! What is a month and a half early?

That's the nature of a lease. You can always stop payment and take your chances with collections or civil court, hoping that the safety argument flies. But, the management is not required to keep you personally safe. they have an obligation to provide a reasonably safe environment, but obviously they cannot be responsible for all criminal activity. Plus, the responsibility of the management varies by state.

Do you think justice is being served in this case, as the police are investigating our lifestyle, and not the criminals?

The job of the police is to investigate. They go where the evidence takes them. And looking at the motive behind the robbery is just as important as the robbery itself. And if it leads them to another crime, then so be it.

Did you know that people actually call the police to report the theft of their dope!? It happens! And everyone can go to jail!

What type of charges can be brought up on the assailants? Home Invasion? Strongarmed Robbery? Conspiracy to commit a felony? Assault and Battery? What else, if you could add to these charges, and if not these charges, then what?

Those are all possible criminal charges. But, they depend on the elements of the crimes in your state and what actually transpired.

What type of sentences can be put upon the assailants, speaking that they have a record of robbery and assault and battery as a minor, and now they are adults?

Impossible to say before the case has been filed. Anywhere from charges dropped to 25 years or more, I would suspect.

Do I have grounds to break my lease? Could I sue the leasing office for negligence?

Consult an attorney. But, I doubt you can break the lease on these grounds. Unless the complex is so unsafe that there is a pattern of assault and crime committed against everyone there, I doubt you will get very far with the case.

You can probably work out a deal whereas you pay off the rent through the end of the lease and then bail. Or, negotiate one final month and tell them they get to rent it out again! They could, in theory, then collect November rents twice for the same apartment! What a deal for them.

Finally, my last question would be "WHERE DO I START???" Can anyone help me find out what my rights are, and what is going to happen???

Keep on the police to make sure something happens, and consult an attorney versed in landlord tenant/issues for the lease stuff.

- Carl

[laurenamber]

Thank you, I needed some real advice, instead of the rude comments made by almost everyone that has responded (except you)

If we had something to hide, I would not have contacted the police.

In my original post, I did not elaborate on what happened. I just made a long story short. So, I will elaborate, now that I know there is someone willing to give me serious advice instead of rude comments.

2 days ago, I stopped at the gas station for gas.
I saw a friend from highschool there, and I gave him my number in hoping that we could catch up on everything that has happened since highschool.
He asked me if I still live with my parents, and I told him "no, we have our own place". I told him the name of the complex, NOT MY WHOLE ADDRESS.

The only way they would have been able to find out where we live, is by asking people in the neighborhood, or, simply staking out the area until my fiancee or I showed up. We assume it was the latter.

The only motive I can think of for them robbing us, would be due to the fact that in highschool, he remembers me and my family as, how should I put it? Well off? Not broke, by any means. When I saw him, I suppose he noticed the temp tags on my brand new car, and I assume he put two and two together (she had money in highschool, and she still has money. Lets rob the bitch.)

As for the amount of money that was stolen, it was around 800 dollars.

I know the next thing someone is going to say is "your stupid enough to keep that much cash around the house?"

The money was in my fiancees pocket. He was waiting for me to get home so that we could go to the bank and deposit it. That was most of our rent money. We now are probably not going to be able to pay the rent on time.

We do know that the robbery was planned ahead (sloppily, might I add) due to the fact that they were all wearing black hoodies and jeans.

Anyways, I have never taken civics, so i dont know who would issue a warrant. And speaking that I have never been in trouble/to jail/to a police station, for that matter, I dont really know much about "the system".

As for my leasing office, numerous complaints have been filed with them, to no avail. There have been robberies, assaults, vandalisms, and other problems right in the parking lot of the community. Once, someone stole a car from another county, and dumped it in the middle of the parking lot! So there are reports on file, but nothing has been done to help the residences.

I have gone to many people for advice, and many of them imply to me that I am the bad guy, as if I sell drugs, or something like that. I guess in America you are really guilty until proven innocent. At least that is the way it is on this forum.

Also, I remember the detective telling me that if we find the main guy who did it, we cant go "cowboy" on him, or we will get in trouble. We both realize this, but I need to make a point here- If we had something to hide, we would have never called the cops, and if we were thug drug dealers, we would have never gone to the cops, we would have just hunted them down and got our revenge. This, though, is not the case, as we DID call the police and file a report.

[Shay-Pari'e]

Your boyfriend picked out the face of a guy you went to school with in his yearbook. OK! Maybe if you both went to the same school. Are you now going to tell us you saw through his hood?

[JETX]

Originally Posted by --PARIDISE--

Your boyfriend picked out the face of a guy you went to school with in his yearbook. OK! Maybe if you both went to the same school. Are you now going to tell us you saw through his hood?

they were all wearing black hoodies and jeans.

Good catch!!! Looks like our little IDIOT forgot about that one!!

[laurenamber]

they were all wearing black hoodies and jeans.

Yes, they were wearing hoodies. That doesnt mean that all of the hoodies were up. And, from what I recall, hoodies cover the BACK of the head, NOT the face. Actually only one assailant actually had their hoodie up and over there head. He tied the drawstrings so tight, all you could see whas his nose and eyes.

[AHA]

If there has been so many security complaints for a long perid of time in this complex, why didn't you move some time ago?

As far as blaming the leasing office for the robbery, seems pretty far fetched. Even houses and apartments in rich neighbourhoods with security can be broken into and robbed. The only thing anyone can do in that situation is, if they're lucky enough to know how did it, press charges and hopefully get something from the home insurance company. You can't really blame a break in and robbery on someone or something else than that.

Even if you haven't given your full address to a criminal, it's not illegal for that criminal to do some digging and find out exactly where you live. If you pointed him to the right direction it might not have taken much to find out your complete address.

If you were so worried about safety, why would you move into such a neighborhood in the first place? If you come from a family with cash to spare, what is the problem with asking Daddy Warbucks to help you out of your lease? You cannot play both cards; You either have resources, or you don't. If you do then you need to use them.