India Aniya Jenkins, 17; Deondre Tryvon Jackson, 18; and Christopher Lee Blanchard, 19; all of Powder Springs; and Sarafina Nicole Vinson, 18, of Lithia Springs, were taken into custody after a neighbor in the 3500 block of Hopkins Court reported seeing them crawl into a window at the empty residence.
They were arrested on charges of misdemeanor criminal trespassing and loitering. Each was released from the Cobb County Jail on $2,000 bond on Monday.
According to arrest warrants, the four climbed through a window in the vacant home. When police arrived, they found that windows in the home were busted out and walls, doors and other infrastructure were damaged.
“It looked like (the home) had become kind of a hangout and there had been destruction of the property, but we can’t even say that they were responsible for destroying the home,” Powder Springs Police Maj. John Robison said.
The teenagers were still inside the home when police arrived at the scene around 4 p.m. Sunday, but Robison said officers were not sure how long they had been hanging around inside the home.
“There were no injuries … No one tried to run either,” he said. “There may have been an idea because they headed to the back of the house, but when they saw the officer and that he had a Taser, they were all very compliant.”
Robison also said that there was no evidence of the four taking anything from the home, and that he would consider the crime a “bit of a random act.”
“It’s an area that we tend to spend a lot of time in, but I wouldn’t say that there are any trends specifically in regards to what happened there,” he said, referring to the neighborhood.
Robison urged Powder Springs residents that if they see anything suspicious, to contact police immediately.
“It may not be anything, but we would rather it be nothing than something happen,” he said.
Cobb tax records show the property is owned by the federal department of Housing and Urban Development, and the 2011 taxes have not been paid.











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Does this mean that Cobb County could eventually take the house away from HUD for failure to pay? What a nice idea!
Wonder where else that could apply.