Baltimore County mother didn’t believe her children when they said a man living underground had been harassing them. Then she investigates

Unique Wiggins of Baltimore County described growing worried for her children’s safety once she learned a man staying in a nearby sewer had allegedly spoken to them and chased them down the street. At the start, she said, she dismissed what her kids told her about someone talking to them from underground.

The turning point came on a Friday when her 21-year-old daughter called in a panic. According to CBS News, the daughter told her, “Mom, I’m scared. The man told me I can’t walk right here and to just dip.” Wiggins asked which man she meant, and her daughter answered that it was the man in the sewer.

After the children raised the same concern at least four separate times, Wiggins went to look for herself. She approached the manhole opening, heard singing coming from below, and called out, “Yo, yo, you.” The man answered, “What?” She then said, “Leave my F–king kids alone.” He responded, “No, tell them to leave me alone?” Wiggins replied that the children could not possibly be bothering him while he remained inside the sewer.

Police involvement and county resources after repeated reports

Wiggins said the man had both spoken to her children and chased them down the street, which is why she contacted police. Officers informed her, she reported, that the sewer lines and culverts count as public property, which restricted the actions they could take.

She explained her ongoing concern by stating, “I don’t feel like I’m protected. I don’t feel like my kids are protected. I’m not saying this gentleman should necessarily go to jail, but he should not live in the sewer. He should not be able to be down there.”

Baltimore County Police confirmed the man was arrested and then released on his own recognizance on October 13. They also said a separate peace order was served on Thursday and remains in effect until October 26. Harassment complaints like these can end up in court elsewhere too, as with a mime accused of harassing women at a park. 

Wiggins said she thinks additional steps are still needed to safeguard her family and neighbors. She suggested officials “can put a no trespassing sign there. They can put a no trespassing sign, and they can cover the holes. That’s what I would like to see. I would like Baltimore County to make me feel like I am a member of this community.”

Police told WJZ they had offered mobile services to the man, yet those efforts did not succeed. When WJZ reporters went to the neighborhood, they neither saw nor heard the man in the area.

Baltimore County Government issued a statement that began, “Every person deserves to be safe and treated with dignity, including people experiencing homelessness and behavioral health challenges.”

The county said it remains committed to helping residents find resources and services, especially during times of need, and directed people to the Coordinated Entry hotline at 410-887-8463, available weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., for help with shelter, eviction prevention, and related supports.

The same statement noted that Baltimore County Crisis Response operates around the clock for anyone concerned about a resident or facing an active behavioral health crisis, reachable at 988 or 410-931-2214. County officials added that they will keep working with government and community partners on the matter.