I think bungie can restore your character if that happens. If that was me though, I would pay someone $500 to find the address, buy an airplane ticket, wait for you to step out, and attack.
It may be a bit excessive but that means you just threw 500 hours away in a few seconds.
Bungie should give 24 hours before fully deleting your character. Or at least provide a password request when changing characters. But knowing people, no one would protect their characters for the benefit of switching quick.
Well at least the kid has one thing to look forward to. A life of working on and planning a slow and painful demise of this new enemy.