A central California couple who’d been victimized by robbers is accused of taking matters into their own hands by putting bicycles on their porch, laying in wait for would-be thieves, then pummeling them with baseball bats.
Corey Curnutt, 25, and Savannah Grillot, 29, were arrested in Visalia, Cali. for the bait-and-beat operation they recorded between July and November, according to ABC News.
Neighbors said the pair, the latter of whom is in the Navy, began their proactive vigilantism after they moved into their Fresno-area neighborhood in the spring and twice had their car broken into right off the bat.
“There would be blood in the street or on the sidewalks the next day,” said neighbor Kerris LeBeau, who sometimes had a ringside seat to the violence.
LeBeau and her husband reportedly found their bat-swinging neighbors to be otherwise nice people. Once they felt matters had gotten out of hand, they spoke to the couple and suggested that leaving bicycles in their front yard might be attracting opportunists who might otherwise pass through the neighborhood without stopping.
After seeing YouTube video of the the pair chasing and beating passersby who tried making off with the bikes left outside, police reportedly caught up with Curnutt and Grillot after they’d already moved to another home. They were reportedly arrested on the Navy base where Grillot was stationed and charged with four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy.
Police suspect there may be more victims, but finding them is another matter.
“They’re reluctant victims, so they’re not wanting to come out and say, ‘Yeah, I was stealing a bike and got assaulted,'” Visalia Police Lt. Ron Epp told ABC.
Police also said the couple never alerted them to the situation in their neighborhood before taking it upon themselves to fight crime personally.
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