She didn’t do things halfway. She wanted the trailer and their stinky septic system removed. 
I guess this is similar to fed up neighbors throwing gas and a match on a vacant crack house. They draw in a lot of criminals and can absolutely devastate what was a nice street. Taking the law into their own hands shouldn’t happen, but people get desperate if enough years pass without any action.
I see the lady showed the contractor that the trailer was vacant. Wonder where she got a key?
Wow, that’s a weird story. I’m glad I don’t have any neighbors that would do something like that (at least I think I don’t…) Though I admit, there are a couple houses further down the block that I wouldn’t mind seeing bulldozed. 
You destroy someone’s whole home and it’s only third degree felony?
Poor people don’t count. What do they need homes for anyway? Many of them seem to get along perfectly well without them. I wish my life was as easy and uncomplicated as theirs.
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Is it because the damage was “only” $25,000? That’s pretty effed up. Not likely she’s going to get prison time I suppose. If there was any justice, she would get the lot she claimed was hers, and the now-homeless family would get her home.
My guess is the relatively low value of the trailer accounts for the charge.
When I read stuff like this, I’m so glad I left Florida 10 years ago.
What about Florida’s “castle” laws? shouldn’t the family who got their home invaded get to shoot the woman?
What about the bulldozer operator? Is the operator also facing charges?
What I find most disturbing about this (apart from this…
)
…is that she was able to simply point a wrecking company to a property and say “it’s mine and I want it gone” without anyone checking that she had the right to do so.
Why would anyone question it? Just a few weeks ago, we hired a guy to move a shed in our yard, but for all he knew, we were screwing around on someone else’s property. I don’t find fault with the wrecking company.
When you hire a wrecking company, don’t they have to sign a form stating that you are the owner of the thing to be wrecked, and give permission, and the form has a description of the thing to be wrecked?
Or was this the more informal kind of wrecking. involving cash to someone who will happen to stop by, no questions asked?
The article said the lady unlocked the trailer to show the dozer guy it was unoccupied. I can see why that would have convinced him it was her property. They aren’t sure how the lady got the key.
WAG I suspect the trailer was old and probably badly neglected. It looked like something waiting to be demolished.
Was there anyone officially living in it, with the permission of the owner?
This is all the local news reported. Maybe the owner was looking for a new renter? Without pictures its hard to say if the property was abandoned or not.
Well, I know - my trade involves working on other peoples’ houses every day. But we’re invariably improving the property, not destroying it.
But I guess I can see how that could happen.
Don’t most jurisdictions require a permit to demolish houses? And wouldn’t you have to be able to prove it was your property to get the permit?
More to the point, how is a pile of rubble more attractive than a decrepit house?
This reminds me somewhat of the 2008 story of the Sheriff who ordered a mobile home bulldozed when the transporter’s vehicle the transporter’s vehicle broke down.
The pile of rubble doesn’t have ‘undesirables’ living in it. I gather that was the woman’s goal - to force her neighbors to move away.
What should the charge have been? Let’s say she caused a mansion worth five million dollars to bulldozed – what Florida crime would cover that?
I’ll give you a hint:
As I read it, the highest possible charge is when the damage exceeds $1000, as it does here. In other words, there is no more serious charge, even if the damage had been $5 million.
Were you thinking of something else that I’m missing?