Ding Dong Dismissed - Doorbell Lawsuit Dropped But Did Ring-And-Run Result In Criminal Case?

SHOREWOOD, IL — A Shorewood insurance man dropped his lawsuit against a neighborhood teen he accused of torturing him by relentlessly ringing his doorbell.

“Yes, I did dismiss the case,” said State Farm agent John Wright.

“I didn’t want to push the issue. It’s over, it’s done,” Wright said of his lawsuit against 14-year-old Brennan Papp and his parents, Rick and Sara Papp.

“It’s a learning lesson, I guess, for everybody involved,” Wright said.

Wright wanted to let the lawsuit “lie and die away,” and he was also reluctant to discuss a criminal case filed against him about the same time Brennan Papp supposedly left him an emotional wreck by ringing his doorbell and running away.

Patch obtained a letter sent from Will County Circuit Clerk Pamela McGuire’s office to the Shorewood Police Department. The letter references the criminal case “People of the State of Illinois Vs. John D. Wright.”

“Please be advised that the Honorable Carla Alessio-Policandriotes expunged the records in the above captioned case” in January 2015, the letter said. It requested that the police department expunge its records of the matter as well.

The case would have been filed in late July 2014, according to court records.

While Wright would not discuss the criminal case or the expungement letter himself, he referred questions to attorney Ragan Freitag.

Freitag would not confirm or deny whether Wright’s criminal case was related to Brennan Papp’s alleged doorbell harassment.

“The case was dismissed and it was expunged,” Freitag said.

“It was dismissed for a reason,” she said. “It was dismissed and it was expunged.”

Rick Papp referred questions to his attorney, Laura Malinowski. Malinowski provided a written statement that said, “The Papp family is pleased that the complaint filed by Mr. Wright was recently dismissed and the matter is now behind them. The allegation that a group of 12-year-olds rang someone’s doorbell should never result in a lawsuit.”

The lawsuit said Wright “suffered severe emotional distress, severe anxiety, sleeplessness, extreme and rapid weight loss, and required treatment medication in order to function in his daily living” because “some unknown individual or individuals repeatedly rang the doorbell at the Wright residence, then when (Wright) went to answer the door, no one would be at the door; this is commonly known as ‘ding dong ditch.’”

The lawsuit said that “upon information and belief,” Brennan Papp confessed to a Shorewood police officer that he rang Wright’s bell and ran off at least once.

According to the suit, “Brennan intentionally chose” Wright’s “residence because he knew John D. Wright was also an agent with the insurance company like his father."