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'Cleaning Fairy' Charged with Breaking and Tidying

By Stephanie Rabiner, Esq. on June 04, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A dish fairy. A laundry fairy. A cleaning fairy. Most of us wouldn't mind one or all three showing up at our home. But when they're uninvited? Well, for the sake of your mess, you've got to put your foot down.

Westlake resident Sherry Bush took this exact approach last weekend after encountering an Ohio cleaning fairy named Susan Warren. While Bush's daughter was sleeping upstairs, Warren broke into her home.

The best part is that she left a note -- on a napkin -- asking for $75 as payment for her cleaning services.

Bush was a bit taken a back by both the note and the cleaning, she told WKYC-TV. The cleaning fairy took out the trash, washed a few mugs, vacuumed and cleaned up the playroom. At first, she was convinced that Warren had cleaned the wrong house.

She didn’t. Susan Warren also left her phone number on the note, and after a phone call, she made it clear that this is simply what she does, reports WJW-TV. Local investigators have confirmed that they have received similar reports in the area, including from one of Warren’s previous customers.

It’s no surprise that police arrested the cleaning fairy, but prosecutors apparently have not yet decided to charge her. She didn’t steal anything, and it doesn’t seem like she really intended to do anything but clean. Cleaning, unto itself, isn’t really a crime. She therefore probably can only be charged with trespassing as opposed to burglary.

Criminal trespass only carries a 30-day jail sentence in Ohio, so it may not be worth anyone’s time to pursue a conviction. But even without one, there’s a very good chance that Susan Warren will put down her mop and retire from her role as Ohio’s cleaning fairy.

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