Teens vandalize man's historic farmhouse, trucks in Westland

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A vandalized historic property located near Farmington and Cowan roads in Westland dates back to 1900.

The owner could be taking a huge financial loss with his dreams squashed due to the actions of several groups of neighborhood kids.

"With all this discouraging stuff happening over the past year, I don't know if I'm going to sell the property or just move on," he said. "Maybe it's a sign for me to move on, I really don't know."

Thugs have smashed all the windows on the house and the antique trucks, even pulling some of the siding off the barn. The owner believes this is just a group of neighborhood kids with nothing better to do.

"We can't figure out why they're doing it," the owner said. "And it's so weird that there's so many different groups, three or four groups of these kids, I'm just wondering where are their parents are at."

The vandalism has been going on for about a year, prompting this owner to keep closer watch, but then a confrontation turned violent.

"They were in the barn when I pulled up," he said. "They went running, I caught them, they got upset that I was taking pictures and one of them did actually hit me, and I had to go to emergency."

He then invested in surveillance cameras, catching teens in the act between July 12 and 17th. The owner, who's worried for his safety, says they even stole one of the cameras. Westland police are doing extra patrols.

"We contacted Westland police," he said. "They're doing everything they possibly can. They've been great. But we are just frustrated."

But the dream of developing an educational farm and cider mill may still have to come to an end. The owner said he can't afford to keep replacing windows, some of the antiques have lost their value, and the heartless vandalism only seems to be getting worse.

"I bought this property over 20 years ago for just one purpose; I wanted to do a cider mill out here and a petting farm and hayrides, animals for the kids, to see what old farmers used to have," he said.

If you recognize the teens in these images, give Westland police a call at (734) 722-9600.