KAYSVILLE — Juveniles who have been propelling themselves through vinyl fences may be doing it to win money as part of a “dare night” competition, a new search warrant affidavit suggests.
The issue of teenagers jumping through vinyl fences has been a problem for years across the Wasatch Front, with rashes of fence vandalism coming in waves. In July, authorities in Weber and Davis counties suggested that the latest wave of vandalisms may be due in part to an online challenge.
The problem became so bad that on Aug. 14, the Kaysville Police Department announced a $1,000 reward ”for any information leading to the arrest of suspect(s) involved in a rash of vandalisms involving damage to vinyl fences. Over the summer, Kaysville Police has received over 30 cases of fences being kicked down during the night,” according to a statement from the department on their Facebook page.
A new search warrant filed in 2nd District Court by Kaysville police sheds more light on the alleged challenge.
According to the warrant, a post was discovered on Snapchat “about a dare night involving Farmington High School students,” the warrant states.
“That Snapchat read, ‘Dare night, Wednesday night. Here are the rules and the dares, SB (Snap back) if you are in, $20 per team, winner takes all, meet at FHS student parking at 7:15 #repost#,” according to the warrant.
The investigating officer also noted in the warrant that another rule was “If you get picked up by police then you are disqualified.”
On the Wednesday that the alleged dare was to take place, seven cases of fence vandalism were reported in Kaysville, the warrant states, “where groups of juveniles were heard and/or seen on surveillance cameras throwing themselves through vinyl fences. Similar cases were also reported in Farmington on that same night.”
The total damage to fences that night was about $10,000, the warrant states.
Through the school resource officer, five students were identified as possibly being the organizers of the dare, according to the warrant. The head organizer allegedly “stored all the lists and video submissions” from entrants, the warrant states.
Students would be asked to submit suggestions for dare night, and one of the five organizers would then “put together a final list of the dares,” according to the warrant. One student told police “there were over 100 dares listed and that the teams had to record each dare for it to count.”
Up to 16 teams may have been involved, according to the warrant.
The dares did not all involve vandalizing fences. Some of the other dares included stealing traffic cones and “toilet papering,” the warrant states. The winners on that Wednesday night received $350, according to the warrant.
The search warrant was written for officers to be able to look at the videos on the organizer’s phone.