I-Team: No charges filed against squatting teens

August 23, 2013 (MINOOKA, Ill.) (WLS) -- There are new details in the case of teenage squatters who took over a home in southwest suburban Minooka and turned it in a party house when the owners were away on vacation.

PHOTOS: Teen squatters trash Minooka home

Police in suburban Minooka and prosecutors in Grundy County decided not to file any charges against the teenagers who used that family home as their own-without the permission of the owner.

The I-Team has been fielding questions Friday from viewers and others about why no one is being charged and a nearly identical case has been found with the same scenario where prosecutors have just charged the teenagers who took over someone's house when they were gone and used it for drugs, sex and rock n' roll.

In suburban Minooka an emotional Alan Donley and his wife came to the I-Team for answers because they weren't getting anywhere with local authorities.

In June they had flown to Arizona with their young children on a family vacation and left their cat and houseplants to the care of a neighbor girl who was given a key.

But what they returned to find was remnants of an orgy; drug scraps, sex accessories, partiers had slept in their beds, worn their clothes, trashed the house and even crashed their car.

But the State's Attorney said no charges would be filed.

"The case is closed at this point. The case has been resolved," said Grundy County State's Attorney Jason Helland.

Virtually the same thing happened in a home near Providence, Rhode Island. With the owners away, teenagers moved into the home and trashed it.

Thursday, 13 teenager squatters were arrested and charged, 13 to 17 years old. They had put out word that there was an open party in the vacant home for one week. Word spread via text message and phone.

But in Minooka, the same basic circumstances and no charges are being filed.

The Rhode Island teenagers are charged with trespassing, their cases in juvenile court. Most said to be cooperating with police.

There is one difference between the east coast case and the suburban Chicago squatters. In Rhode Island the homeowner's son had actually given permission for a few friends to use their swimming pool and it got out hand. In Minooka it's unclear who allowed the teenagers in.

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iteam, chuck goudie

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