Ian Sparkes looked into the eyes of a Chilliwack teenager Tuesday and did his best to fight back anger.
The kid was dragged over to Sparkes' place by his father to apologize for blatant acts of vandalism that left one of Ian's popular green and yellow corn barns damaged beyond repair.
Four nights last week the teenager allegedly rammed his white pickup truck into the barn, on Luckakuck Way.
“He showed up the first time last Tuesday, then again Wednesday around 11:30 p.m.,” Ian said. “He was back Saturday morning around 1:35 a.m. and then one final time on Monday morning at 12:50 a.m.”
Ian knows the times because he set up surveillance and has time-stamped images of the white truck at the scene.
“We already knew who they were because they drove by during the day revving their engine,” Ian said. “But we didn't want them to know we knew until they were caught in the act.”
The fourth time the truck showed up, a surprise was waiting.
Ian wouldn't confirm it was a home-made spike belt that shredded the tires.
“It appears he perhaps hit the barn so fiercely that something fell off and destroyed all four of his tires,” Ian suggested on the Sparkes Corn Barn Facebook page. “Vandalism is getting expensive for this young fellow.”
Pictures are posted on the page of four tires and rims completely chewed up.
“There were chunks of rubber going down the road to the truck's final resting place,” Ian chuckled. “This cost him $3000 in tires and rims plus a lot of public humiliation.”
The suspect and his alleged accomplices were identified and ripped into on Facebook, to the point where Ian almost started feeling sorry for them.
Almost.
“Me and my kids built five new corn barns, we work long hours seven days a week and something like this happens and it just boils over,” he said. “These kids had nothing to do with any of my employees or family. We don't even know them. They don't know us. They were just random idiots who thought they were cool and I don't really care what happens to them.”