Twelve people have been arrested, charged or warned after walking into an empty house near Suwanee that social media videos showed as abandoned, Gwinnett County police say.
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Officers have been called to the same $1 million home four times since Aug. 30. Five adults were arrested.
Four of the seven juveniles involved, ages 13 to 16, were charged with criminal trespass and three were warned.
Brock Marks with Gwinnett County police said the posts get one thing wrong. The home is unoccupied, but it remains privately owned and closed to the public.
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“Just because a private residence appears to be abandoned on a social media platform does not mean that it is,” Marks said.
A police report from a Sept. 1 incident describes three 19-year-olds who jumped a gate and came in a rear door. One told an officer a camera outside alerted the group it was recording, and they kept going.
The report says the three tried to conceal their faces. One told an officer they went in to look around and document the house after seeing a TikTok video that showed it as abandoned.
The man who called it in was watching a live surveillance feed from another county and wants to press charges.
Adult charges across the four incidents included criminal trespass, loitering and prowling, and giving a false name or date of birth to an officer.
“Just because you’re doing it for social media purposes, entertainment purposes, trying to generate a video to get some kind of social media notice, the intent behind it doesn’t matter,” Marks said.
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