Posted on 05/02/2024 8:48:28 AM PDT by V_TWIN
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A woman accused of squatting in a Jacksonville home more than a year ago is now facing criminal charges.
The woman, who seemingly disappeared after being evicted, was arrested in Duval two weeks ago on misdemeanor trespass and criminal mischief charges. She appeared in court for an arraignment Wednesday.
Records show she was arrested on April 15 and spent two days in jail before being released on a $10,000 bond.
News4JAX learned Wednesday that a warrant for her arrest was issued in June of 2023.
In March 2023, body camera footage and a report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office shows two women moved into Patti Peeples’ vacant rental property.
The woman who was arrested claimed she and her girlfriend were victims of a rental scam, which was the same thing she claimed when they were discovered living in a nearby house a few months earlier. They were evicted soon before moving into Peeples’ property.
Peeples’ story inspired the unanimous passage of a state law. However, these charges are separate from that new law.
That law goes into effect July 1, and it will close the loophole that has allowed scammers, who falsely claim they were the ones who were scammed, to live at a property rent-free as it goes through the civil court system, which can take weeks. With these changes to state law, property owners will be able to direct law enforcement to remove someone from their house immediately if they’ve never had a lease there and refuse to leave.
(Excerpt) Read more at news4jax.com ...
Why haven't other states adopted similar? 🤷
Why haven’t other states adopted similar? 🤷
Because the right people have not had their property destroyed yet................
I’m just glad we live where we do. 😏
Good..
Five words would clear up 75% of the societal problems we’re having now: “fullest extent of the law.”
Never forget things can change for the worse in just one election.................
That’s what scares me about all the interlopers moving here
And hopefully more squatters are treated like the criminals they are.
They're trespassers....with no right to stay on someone else's land.
Exactly.
Squatting, trespassing, whatever you wanna call it.....it’s a thing of the past in Florida.
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