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Evicted woman says deputy marshal let neighbors take her belongings
accessnorthga ^ | 8/23/04 | staff

Posted on 08/23/2004 10:34:52 AM PDT by CFW

The Associated Press - COLUMBUS, Ga.

A complaint has been filed accusing a Muscogee County deputy marshal of allowing neighbors to pick through the belongings of a woman who had been evicted.

Virginia Upshaw, 45, says that after being evicted from her three-bedroom trailer, her belongings were hauled outside and placed near the road. Neighbors then took her possessions with the permission of the deputy marshal, she said.

Marshal Kenneth Suddeth, who was not there when Upshaw was evicted, has turned the matter over to Commander Mark Lott, who said he is unable to comment until the investigation is complete.

Upshaw said she did not know the deputy marshal's name. Suddeth and Lott refused to say which deputy was at the scene during the Aug. 16 incident.

Sgt. 1st Class Jay Johnson, who lives at Fort Benning, said he was visiting a friend in the mobile home park and tried to help take Upshaw's belongings to safety. He said he pleaded with Upshaw's neighbors to leave her belongings alone.

"I said, 'You can't take this lady's stuff,' " Johnson said.

Johnson said a deputy marshal stood across the street and watched while items such as furniture, televisions and clothes were taken.

"He said it was OK," Johnson said. "When someone asked the marshal if Ms. Upshaw could call the cops, he said, 'Why? It's free stuff.'... Everybody was saying the marshal said it was OK, and he never disputed that."

A neighbor, who admits taking some of Upshaw's furniture and clothes, backs up the account. But Scarlett O'Hara said she later returned the items.

"The marshal said the stuff belonged to the community," O'Hara said. "We asked if we would get in trouble if we got anything, and he said no... I got two TVs, an entertainment center, a bag of clothes and a big picture. But my heart wouldn't let me keep it. I felt like she was being wronged."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: crass; crooks; jbts; lowdown
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1 posted on 08/23/2004 10:34:53 AM PDT by CFW
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To: CFW

This case (against the sherrifs department) has a 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 chance of succeeding...but I gues there is a chance :)...


2 posted on 08/23/2004 10:38:29 AM PDT by Tulane
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To: CFW
I felt like she was being wronged.

She was evicted! i.e. SHE WAS STEALING FROM THE LANDLORD. The landlord was being wronged.

3 posted on 08/23/2004 10:41:04 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (* Sarcasm tag is always required. No sarcasm is sufficiently obvious for some people.)
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To: Onelifetogive

Then the landlord can take the property. But how sad the neighbors were taking it and the police were doing nothing about it.


4 posted on 08/23/2004 10:42:20 AM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: CFW
"But Scarlett O'Hara said she later returned the items."

Mammy would be so proud.

5 posted on 08/23/2004 10:46:59 AM PDT by No Blue States (Hype is on the way! Kerry/Edwards)
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To: CFW

"But Scarlett O'Hara said she later returned the items."

And it's a good thing she did, too. I hear there are Yankees in the area coming to ransack Tara.


6 posted on 08/23/2004 10:49:14 AM PDT by SilentServiceCPOWife (I think...therefore, I am a conservative.)
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To: CFW

That is pretty much the law here. If you get evicted the landlord can put your stuff on the street. Maybe paying the rent is better than loosing your stuff.


7 posted on 08/23/2004 10:52:11 AM PDT by Conan the Librarian (I am a Librarian. I don't know anything....I just know where to look it up.)
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To: ican'tbelieveit
Then the landlord can take the property. But how sad the neighbors were taking it and the police were doing nothing about it.

Suppose the woman put all of her stuff in YOUR house and refused to remove it. Would you like the government to enforce YOU being responsible for caring for her stuff until she someday decides to return and demand you return it to her?

8 posted on 08/23/2004 10:58:38 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (* Sarcasm tag is always required. No sarcasm is sufficiently obvious for some people.)
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To: Onelifetogive

Her belongings were on the street, according to the article. They were out. Her neighbors and the police are despicable for behaving in this manner.


9 posted on 08/23/2004 11:01:05 AM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: Tulane

A few years ago, I had a tenant who moved one afternoon, only he wasn't home to help out. After floating him for several months and not getting my rent, we took him to court. The court ordered the eviction. I had to pay a court bailiff to oversee the eviction. We were literally handing his stuff to his neighbors to take for their own.

I frankly didn't care. It was his fault and his problem.


10 posted on 08/23/2004 11:11:47 AM PDT by cyclotic (Cub Scouts-Teach 'em young to be men, and politically incorrect in the process)
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To: ican'tbelieveit
Her belongings were on the street, according to the article. They were out.

Because she refused to remove them from someone's house where she refused to pay rent.

11 posted on 08/23/2004 11:15:37 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (* Sarcasm tag is always required. No sarcasm is sufficiently obvious for some people.)
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To: Onelifetogive

Are you justifying the neighbors actions?


12 posted on 08/23/2004 11:17:41 AM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: cyclotic

That is unbelievable. Cannot believe you did this.


13 posted on 08/23/2004 11:18:51 AM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: cyclotic

You are the landlord. You are not responsible for his stuff, after he is evicted. An irresponsible tenant costs a landlord enough, without making them protect their evicted property also.

The police, on the other hand, ARE responsible. They are not supposed to let strangers go through someone's property and haul it away, while they are there to stop it. That's their job.


14 posted on 08/23/2004 11:19:11 AM PDT by I still care (Have you heard about the Democrat cocktail? It's ketchup with a chaser.)
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To: ican'tbelieveit

That does justify the Deputy's action. His job is to remove her stuff from her landlord's house. His job is not to provide security for her stuff. That becomes purely and completely her problem. Had she paid her rent, there would be no problem.

For the record, it is a difficult and time intensive process to evict a tenant. She had plenty of warning that this was coming.


15 posted on 08/23/2004 11:21:11 AM PDT by cyclotic (Cub Scouts-Teach 'em young to be men, and politically incorrect in the process)
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To: cyclotic

There were people there asking for the neighbors to stop, they were trying to help her. If this is acceptable to you, I would not want to be your neighbor. And, God forbid, you run into bad luck.


16 posted on 08/23/2004 11:22:29 AM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: CFW
Evicted woman says deputy marshal let neighbors take her belongings

When people are evicted and their property set out in the public way, the public is legally permitted to take what they want of it.
17 posted on 08/23/2004 11:24:06 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: ican'tbelieveit
A tenant that doesn't pay their rent costs their landlord big time. He already said he floated them for several months, then there are court costs, and eviction proceeding expenses. And it can take months and months for the eviction to proceed, all the time the tenant lives free. Some people live like this purposefully. They can always find another patsy to scam off.

The court usually orders you to pay security back also - that's not for rent not paid, just for damage. It's like insult to injury when your tenant has scammed you for thousands, and you have to pay the security back. If electric or water is included you have to keep paying it too. Then when they leave, they often damage the place, out of spite.

All this time you are supporting your mortgage, taxes, etc. Then you have to fix the place up after they go. When they are evicted, they often don't show up, trying to stretch things out even longer. They will beg the deputy, give me a day, so I can get a truck. But they are lying, and if you are stupid enough to fall for it, you will end up stuck for quite a while longer.

I guarantee you, a TV and a bedroom set don't make a dent in what this tenant owed the landlord.
18 posted on 08/23/2004 11:27:46 AM PDT by I still care (Have you heard about the Democrat cocktail? It's ketchup with a chaser.)
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To: cyclotic
His job is not to provide security for her stuff.

His job is not to interfere with a crime in progress? Maybe his job is to shoot her in the street like a dog, since according to you, being poor she obviously has no rights at all.

You disgust me.

19 posted on 08/23/2004 11:27:48 AM PDT by Romulus (Why change Horsemen in the middle of the Apocalypse?)
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To: I still care

You are ridiculous. I don't care how much it costs the landlord. That is part of the risk you take when you decide to rent property. This is not about the eviction. This is about the actions after the eviction. If you want neighbors and police that feel this way, more power to you. Personally, there is something to be said for a little human decency.


20 posted on 08/23/2004 11:30:51 AM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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