And so, this is how the Loki Boy saga -- which has captivated Floridians, New Yorkers and Londoners for weeks -- will end. With a whimper. An empty mansion, some personal possessions strewn about, and Bank Of America has won AGAIN.
Three cheers for America!
Yesterday at 1:30 p.m., police spokesperson Sandra Boonenberg told us, Boca Raton police stormed the mansion, and repossessed it for its rightful owner: BOA. The house was empty, Boonenberg said. No Andre Barbosa -- "Loki." No Tunisians screaming, "hide yourself!" Boonenberg didn't know if the house was furnished, or how Loki survived for months inside it.
When police arrived they did find some "personal possessions," but she didn't know what those items included.
As of right now, there aren't any charges against Barbosa, Boonenberg said. Nor are there plans to file some. Loki, despite the level of notoriety he's achieved, hasn't actually done anything wrong. At least not yet.
"If he comes back after we have told him he's trespassing, then that's illegal and we can file criminal charges," Boonenberg said. "But if he doesn't come back, that's it."
What a disappointment.
Here's what's wrong with Loki Boy: Everything.
Dude clandestinely takes over a mansion. OK, cool. And it's legal, under the antiquated "adverse possession" law: even cooler. But then, Loki Boy stopped playing things right. Rather than capitalize on the moment, he dithered. He refused to take interviews. He refused to frame his action as something political, something meaningful.
Rather, he had his stooges and groupies do the talking. People like Rebecca Marie Knox, who discussed Loki with New Times, but didn't really know him beyond daily phone calls.
This was a problem. In a way, Loki -- if he's even a part of the Occupy -- illustrates a larger issue with the movement. There's never any plan beyond the present. The climax occurs immediately, rather than building toward something, and the momentum dissipates. Just like Zuccotti Park: boom then bust.
But Loki's story had interest. People wanted to know what was happening. But he shut us out. He should have found some way to get the Internet inside the house -- if he couldn't mooch from neighbors -- and then set up Skype chats with reporters, sending pictures all the while. The Loki saga could have been a national phenomenon, luring attention to whatever motive he chose to articulate.
And then, at the last moment, he could have stood his ground as police stormed the house, held a press conference, and launched a reality show on MTV.
Instead, like some apparition, he was gone. And no one knows where to.
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