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| Jesse Daniels shows off the damage to the house |
(Scroll down for video) A man was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child related charged after detaining four boys who vandalized his father-in-law’s home, according to police reports in New York.
The man, who said he caught four boys trashing the house of his father-in-law, has been charged with child endangerment after cornering the youngsters in a closet until police arrived.
Jesse Daniels was charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child after authorities said he stopped the vandalising children in the empty house in the village of Clyde in Wayne County, midway between Rochester and Syracuse, New York.
Daniels, 53, said he heard noise coming from the house next door the night of the incident. The house is empty while Daniels is fixing up the house owned by his father-in-law.
Daniels said he went to investigate, while his wife called police. He said he found four children, aged between 8 and 10, inside the home with hammers. He took away the hammers, then put the kids in a closet until police arrived, he said.
"I was lucky that they were in the room that had a closet, so I put them in the closet," he said. "I said, 'Listen, you are staying here until the police come, period.’”
His parents said the boys Daniels handled roughly, and threatened them with the hammer.
The damage to the house included holes in the walls, broken windows and derogatory graffiti towards women painted on the walls. Daniels estimates that the damage to the property of his father-in-law exceeds $40,000.
He said he thought that the boys committed the vandalism in retaliation after Daniels's wife early in the day told them to stay out of the property.
The boys have been charged with theft and criminal mischief. Their cases are being handled in the Family Court of Wayne County.
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