WELLINGTON, Fla— The Village of Wellington is trying to crack down on a growing trend among teens renting properties to throw house parties. Village officials are working with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to send a strong message to the property owners to do more research before they rent their homes.
“It’s very disruptive of the neighborhoods we want it stopped,” said Village of Wellington Manager Paul Schofield.
Thursday night PBSO deputies responded to a home along Anhinga Drive after someone called to report a possible open house party. According to a PBSO spokesperson, when deputies arrived they saw more than 100 cars on the street, trash being thrown everywhere and teenagers holding beer cans who ran when they saw authorities.
“Parents you need to know where your children are going,” said Schofield.
In the days leading up to the event, a flyer was circulating on social media advertising free alcohol spiked fruit punch and a $5 cover charge.
“Everybody’s doing house parties for cheap,” said D’Andrew Ruiz.
Ruiz, known as “DJ Fourteen,” was hired to DJ Thursday night’s house party in Wellington.
“Police came inside took everybody out and told me to unpack my bags and stuff, so I did as the officer told me,” said Ruiz.
Before the house party was broken up by authorities Ruiz took cellphone video that shows hundreds of people dancing in the living room of the rental home.
“I ain’t going to lie to you like 300 people in the first 20 minutes,” said Ruiz.
The 18-year-old DJ says renting properties with the intent to party underage has become a popular trend among his friends. However, authorities say the trend of posting it on social media is making it a little bit easier for them to track and cite homeowners.
“If you look at the flyer there is a cover charge, you are now operating a business which is selling alcohol, which is not legal,” said Schofield.
In this most recent incident, the Village of Wellington plans to cite the property owner for 2 things: renting the property without a proper license and operating a business without a license. Schofield says he hopes this serves as a lesson for other rental property owners.
“Pay attention to who you are renting to. If you have a PayPal account set up for a one-time payment that should be a red flag. Talk to the people, find out, because this is not the first time that it’s happened and I don’t think it will be the last but we will be out there every time it does,” said Schofield.
PBSO says the only arrest made during the party bust was a 19-year-old on an unrelated warrant