Security footage showed a man defecating on the front porch of a Louisville, Kentucky home several times over a few weeks beginning in late August 2024. Kentucky police now say they found the man responsible. For an important reason, however, they won’t press charges, so this scatological and sensational story has a somewhat happy ending.
The homeowner said the Kentucky porch pooper, who could be seen clearly in the home surveillance footage, showed up repeatedly late at night for no apparent reason, and on one occasion, he rang the doorbell. The security showed whoever it was had visited the home when the homeowner was away for Labor Day weekend, and in one instance, he looked through the window before he walked away without defecating.
Once, the serial pooper was scared off by an alarm the homeowner installed to deter whoever was making the mess. Another, he slapped the door and left. One time, he both pooped on and urinated on the porch. Each time, the suspect wore only socks, shorts, and a T-shirt. The issue became such a problem the homeowner, who declined to identify himself in the press, ordered no trespassing signs for the property.
The first time it happened, the homeowner told Louisville news outlet WAVE 3, he thought it was cat poop. He said he had no idea who the person in the footage was or why any of his neighbors might do something like that to his home. “We’re good neighbors. We keep to ourselves and we behave ourselves. I can’t imagine that somebody would want to do some kind of retribution,” he said.
Whoever it was, he was thankful he didn’t seem like a threat. “I’m relieved that he’s not violent or he’s not trying to force entry,” the homeowner said. “He’s just doing his deed, but it’s very disconcerting and disturbing,” he added. It’s unclear how many people lived inside the house.
The Kentucky porch pooper lives with autism
Just a few weeks after the first porch pooping incident was reported, Louisville said they found out who it was, but that he is on the autism spectrum and did not seem to show intent, and for that reason, Kentucky police said he won’t face charges, WDRB reported. No other identifying information about the porch pooper or how he was caught was provided.
“Those living and suffering with disorders are often unable to tackle deliberations, and their actions are to be examined and understood – vs. labeled and immediately judged as villainous,” Louisville Metro Police spokesperson John Bradley said. ‘There will be no criminal charges pursued in this case,” Bradley added.
It’s illegal to poop in public, but fines vary depending on the jurisdiction. Public pooping is punishable by jail time in some places. The porch pooper could have also been charged with trespassing.
Other serial pooping cases
Serial public pooping such as what happened in Louisville is not uncommon, with several high-profile cases in New York and around the country, the New York Post reported in 2019, including one former New Jersey school superintendent dubbed the “Pooperintendent of Schools” who got caught defecating under the bleachers of a school.
Temple University professor and former president of the American Psychological Association, Frank Farley, told the Post there isn’t much research into why serial poopers do what they do. But he added, “… [I]t’s got a deep risk-taking quality. You are truly pushing the envelope and getting to the edge of civil behavior. It’s clearly a violation of civil norms and polite society.”