anyone ever had a trespassing on church property or school after dark?

[OUTCOME1]

well i did!!!! here is the law in Virginia on that. my court date is may 28th. i have no criminal history and i am 35 years old. i assume i will be okay. i even sent a letter to the church apologizing and informing them of the incident...it was the police that showed up to relax that wrote me up when they saw my vehicle and me mding!!! crazy!!!


§ 18.2-128. Trespass upon church or school property.

A. Any person who, without the consent of some person authorized to give such consent, goes or enters upon, in the nighttime, the premises or property of any church or upon any school property for any purpose other than to attend a meeting or service held or conducted in such church or school property, shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Church is private property, I always ask permission first there..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[OUTCOME1]

i do now too.

 

[P47RCFlyer]

well i did!!!! here is the law in Virginia on that. my court date is may 28th. i have no criminal history and i am 35 years old. i assume i will be okay. i even sent a letter to the church apologizing and informing them of the incident...it was the police that showed up to relax that wrote me up when they saw my vehicle and me mding!!! crazy!!!


§ 18.2-128. Trespass upon church or school property.

A. Any person who, without the consent of some person authorized to give such consent, goes or enters upon, in the nighttime, the premises or property of any church or upon any school property for any purpose other than to attend a meeting or service held or conducted in such church or school property, shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

You'll be fine. You will probably get slapped with a small fine and sent on your way. Nothing much different than a traffic ticket.

 

[-Taz-]

Nighttime most likely not the best time to go MDing, even if you have permisson of the landowner ;-) But will probably be a minor thing...best of luck!

 

[kuger]

good thing you didnt ask!!!

 

[TreasurePirate69]

Sorry to hear about your luck. I hope things turn out ok for you. I'm glad that you were brave enough to post this out here as it might save someone else the agony of being busted.

There is a common consensus around here that it is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. This mindset seems to be held by the same people who claim that they should be able to detect school grounds because they pay taxes. The law you referenced shows very clearly why this mindset is just plain wrong.

I even seem to remember some former law enforcement officer on this site telling people that as long as they left when asked that is was not technically trespassing. Hmmm..... misinformation seems to be the norm out here anymore.

The big question is how long will it take Tom to bring his soap box in here and preach to everyone about the evils of asking for permission? I sure hope that he was not responsible for you going to this church and getting busted. His "advice" doesn't seem to care who it hurts since he can't be held accountable.

Again, I hope things turn out for the best for you. Thanks again for taking the time to come out here and post the law and your story. Keep us posted on the results.

 

[HutSiteDigger]

You may be able too fight it but the cost of a lawyer will be $350-$800 bucks. A really well known Lawyer may be able to get you off since it is you're first offense and you have no criminal record you could hire a public defender too. You will be facing a fine, unsupervised probation and they will scare you by telling you 10 days in jail with 10 days suspended. In other words a slap on the wrist but if you get caught again trespassing they could throw that 10 day sentence @ you. I wouldn't stress it too much not like you committed the crime of the century. If the church are really holy people and read you're letter they could ask the court too dismiss it but that is likely not gonna happen. Don't stress it!

 

[Jeremy S]

Public parks: If the rules and regulations don't forbid detecting, taking things from the park, or iffy rules about "disturbing" the ground or killing the grass; then its fair game. I just go early at the crack of dawn, get 3 or 4 hours in if the detecting is good, and get out of there before lots of people start pouring in.

All other properties (an old house, someone's lawn, that abandoned looking lot in town, a public school/business/or church): I ALWAYS ask for permission from the OWNER or person who oversees the property; not a contractor, the pool cleaning guy, or anyone else. If I do get permission, I either stop by and check in with the owner before going onto their property, or let them know when I will be there and what I'll be driving, etc. If it is at a house or lot where they do not live, I will ask about neighbors so that when I arrive on site, I can stop by and let them know that so-in-so told me that I could detect there. Sometimes doing this opens up additional properties for you to hunt!

Its not people metal detecting that has made our society so paranoid and trigger happy to call the police.. Its the copper thief's, robbers, rapists, child abductors, and criminals in general who keep people looking over their shoulders and reporting anything suspicious. Detecting after dark just about anywhere is going to get negative attention. If you have ever had your house or car broken into at night, or people poaching and trespassing on your property at night; then you will understand why the cops got called.

Are you in a career where an offense on your record could hurt you with future job prospects, school admission, or scholarships? If so, then it might be worth the money to hire a lawyer to help keep this from going on your record. What I wrote above is just my personal rules. I broke them once by wandering onto the wrong property... I was in the middle of nowhere, nothing will happen, right? Sure enough a damn conservation officer came out of nowhere, probably there looking for hunters, to inform me that I had wandered onto a DNR controlled property and that I could be ticketed and have my equipment confiscated. The fact that he saw the bag of garbage that I had also cleaned up, me being very polite, and the right apology got me just a warning that day. Lesson learned!

Best of luck! You'll probably just get a slap on the wrist.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

..... There is a common consensus around here that it is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

The big question is how long will it take Tom to bring his soap box in here and preach to everyone about the evils of asking for permission? I sure hope that he was not responsible for you going to this church and getting busted. ....

Hi treasurepirate69. Your statement illustrates your misunderstanding of my stance. My stance of "look it up yourself, instead of going and asking for permission", wasn't/isn't for private property. Thus a "church" is outside of that particular discussion.

Now, whether or not someone can hit an abandoned lot, a fallow lettuce field, a church, a house in foreclosure/abandoned, etc... is an entirely different matter. But ... no, not the matter of my stance on public parks, schools, etc... which are indeed public, not private. Technically no, they're all private. I'll go on record as saying "that's the correct answer". But no, not for parks, schools, beaches, etc..... Hence, two different subjects. Nice try though

 

[diggummup]

Did you intimidate them in any way? By that I mean you know, question their authority, or do anything but yes sir, no sir them (you know kiss their a..), or were they just di..s from the get go? Maybe the time of day played a part of it.

Down here the trespass laws are very strict but usually don't come into play as long as you play by the rules. I would never attempt to hunt a church around here without permission though.

The cops can literally throw you off any property, at any time, for any reason, if the owner or their authorized representative tells them to.

 

[RGINN]

Probably not much will happen to you. Apologize to the court, tell them you weren't aware of the law but are now. You should ask for permission before detecting. Lots of meanness takes place at churches at nights these days and maybe this church has had some problems. I wouldn't go onto school grounds day or night these days without ironclad permission. If worse comes to worse and somebody is campaigning on the platform of makin y'alls churches safe at night from metal detectorists, tell the DA (I assume this is a state charge) you'll plead out to a deferred. I wouldn't have cited you to begin with, but I would have explained the law to you and then told you to git. There's nothin wrong with detectin at night, depending upon where you do it. I come from a part of the country where it was very hot during the day, so it was more comfortable to be out at night, especially during full moons.

 

[rvenneman]

Good luck in court.

 

[bigfoot1]

There is this option...takes a little gumption...demand a full jury trial and see if it just gets dumped by the d.a....also request a public defender.They are all pretty much broke and you hurt noone....I am differant kind of guy but I would embarras the cop by doing this.

 

[RGINN]

Yeah that's what I would do bigfoot1. Make a mountain out of a molehill. From my experience, judges love that sort of thing. They also like it if you address them as 'Your Horse's A**', as it shows you're a stand-up, devil may-care sort of guy. They really admire that. It's not that big of a case; throw yourself on the mercy of the court in this one.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

I would think a church would produce GOLD for sure , if it has never ben hunted , EVER .

 

[Mzjavert]

Personally I think you should be represented by an Attorney. You don't know the law and could accidentally give away one or more of your rights. If he/she can't get you off, maybe they can get the charges dropped once you are a good boy for six months and you pay a fine or whatever.

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Just remember if you do not like the Outcome in General District Court you can always appeal and go to Circuit Court with it!

 

[bigfoot1]

Yeah that's what I would do bigfoot1. Make a mountain out of a molehill. From my experience, judges love that sort of thing. They also like it if you address them as 'Your Horse's A**', as it shows you're a stand-up, devil may-care sort of guy. They really admire that. It's not that big of a case; throw yourself on the mercy of the court in this one.

I guess your state is flush with cash,or reservation,whichever.I meant what I said but thank you for your insightful response.

 

[mical66]

i am not saying i would do what bigfoot1 is saying to do , but it depends on the person , and he is right , i had a friend do the basically the same thing with a speeding ticket , demanding the records showing the officers training with that unit, the last time the unit was calibrated and a few other things that my old memory cant recall since it has been a long time ago,,lol

But any way if it was me , i would just accept that i made a mistake and use it as a life lesson and keep on keeping on !!!