Kallie and Darren Galbraith did not return calls seeking comment about their sign or why they took it down. But Nephi Police Chief Chad Bowles said they took it down after he visited their home Friday evening.

"We talked to them. I think they understood by using that type of wording they made a mistake," he said. "It's so degrading and it ridicules the [boy's] family."

But Bowles said he understands the Galbraiths' frustration.

He said neighbors have complained for some time about the 13-year-old, whose mother, Carrie Heaton, said has been diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities and functions at a 4- to 5-year-old level.

"Mostly, they complain that he goes into their homes, rifles through their things and eats their food," Bowles said. "There are a lot of people in the area who are frustrated with this boy."

But Bowles said the Police Department has mulled over charges of criminal mischief and even aggravated assault. The Galbraiths alleged in November that the youngster threw rocks and hit their 10-year-old daughter in the knee and elbow.

"But how can you prosecute someone like that?" the chief asked. "He can't understand what he's doing. He's not capable of going into juvenile court."

The boy's mother, Carrie Heaton, denies her son is a problem.

Reached late Saturday, she acknowledged her son last year did enter a neighbor's home once without permission. And Heaton said her son has never thrown rocks at anyone or anything.

"They have nothing criminal on my son," Heaton said. "My son's done nothing wrong."

Mavis Hansen, who lives on the same street as Heaton and her son, said she was surprised to learn her neighbors where having trouble with the boy. Hansen said Heaton watches her son closely.

"The boy last summer would come over and talk to me, but I've never known him to do anything that was out of line," Hansen said.

Bowles said the police were called to a trailer park where Carrie Heaton had lived before moving to the neighborhood she shares with the Galbraiths. Neighbors in the trailer park had called with the same types of complaints, the chief said.

"There's not an officer in our department who hasn't had to respond to some type of incident involving this boy," Bowles said, of his nine-person department.

"It's a tough deal because the kid probably doesn't even know he's doing anything wrong."

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Tribune reporter Nate Carlisle contributed to this story.