Disabled man evicted from home of 60 years


But neighbor may get him out of jam


By B. Scott Bortnick, Special to The Denver Post
Everett Paul Erickson spent 60 years living in the quaint, two-bedroom Cherry Creek home his parents built in the early 1940s. Now the disabled Denver native has been evicted for defaulting on his mortgage.

Eviction procedures began Tuesday morning. By nightfall, a lifetime of furnishings, photographs, clothes, pots, pans and assorted items had been removed from the house and heaped in the front yard near East Third Avenue and Jackson Street in the city's well-heeled shopping and residential district.

Neighbors passed and gawked at 4-foot piles of debris as a dozen workers hauled items from the home at 301 Jackson St.

Erickson, his body bent from a muscular disability, stumbled around his lost property Wednesday with the aid of a walker. He spent Tuesday night in a Salvation Army homeless shelter. He seemed confused and unable to explain how he ended up on the street.

"Justice will be done," he said. "We were railroaded in court."

Court records show that Erickson defaulted on a $387,000 loan obtained Sept. 13, 2001, from New Century Mortgage Corp. New Century sold the loan to Ocwen Federal Bank of Orlando, Fla.

U.S. Bank N.A. became trustee for Ocwen and foreclosed on Erickson's house when he failed to make payments. The house was sold at auction Dec. 31, 2002, when Ocwen bought the property back.

Erickson and the bank have battled since then to see when he would leave.

An attorney for U.S. Bank called the eviction "a common occurrence."

"This is a post-foreclosure eviction," Denver attorney Scott Bell said. "Mr. Erickson was in default. He refused to leave, so the court directed the sheriff to take possession."

Scott said the property would be sold once Erickson and his belongings are gone.

In an ironic twist, it might actually be sold back to Erickson. Around 5 p.m. Wednesday, attorney Robert Aronowitz showed up at Erickson's house. Aronowitz is a friend of contractor Eddie Miller, who lives in the neighborhood and built most of the $600,000 to $1 million homes that surround Erickson's house. Miller said he called Aronowitz to try to help Erickson out of the jam.

"Seven years ago, the neighbors got together and hauled three Dumpsters of trash out of his yard when he was being threatened with code violations," Miller said.

Aronowitz said he had talked to Denver attorney David Shore, the lawyer who represented the mortgage holder throughout the foreclosure process.

Aronowitz said Shore told him the bank might be willing to sell Erickson's home back to him for what was owed on the loan, plus accrued interest and costs of foreclosure and eviction, an amount totaling around $400,000.

Then, Aronowitz said, Erickson could turn around and sell the house to a developer.

"The lowest bidder would probably bid $500,000," the lawyer said.

Miller said that a nearby house and lot similar to Erickson's was recently listed for $600,000.

Miller didn't say whether he would be interested in buying the property from Erickson. But Miller and several neighbors said they might be willing to co-sign a loan for Erickson to buy back his home, provided he immediately resold it and paid off the debt.

"I think one of the banks around here would do it," Miller said.

The profit from the property flip would go to support Erickson wherever he moved, Aronowitz said.

Erickson wasn't home when Aronowitz outlined the deal to Erickson's friends and relatives.

Shore could not be reached for comment.

In 1995, several neighbors pitched in to help remove some of Erickson's items, including a 1950s-era green Packard, which had sat inside Erickson's garage for years.

"It is a shock and a surprise to see this happen," said Bob Lyons, who works in the Cherry Creek area and offered assistance to Erickson. "He may not have known he had bills to pay.

"He's lived like a derelict for so long," Lyons said, surveying the trash spread across Erickson's property. "He hasn't thrown anything away."

Eugene Abeyta, a sheriff's deputy there to observe the eviction, said Erickson's belongings would remain in Dumpsters and in the yard for three days. Erickson can cull through the trash and save what he wants, he said.

Whatever is left goes to the dump, the deputy said.

"He's had plenty of time to get his stuff out of here. He's received several notices," Abeyta said.

Sheriff's officials recommended that Erickson sleep in a shelter Tuesday night. He ended up at the Salvation Army, said his older sister, Bernice Segesser. A friend planned to pay for a motel room Wednesday night.

Segesser said her 60-year-old brother has suffered from a muscular disease most of his life and received Social Security disability payments. She said her parents built the Jackson Street home in the early 1940s. Erickson lived there all his life and has been on his own since their mother died 11 years ago, she said.

His sister said Erickson refinanced the home several times to have money to live on.

Segesser looked through some of the debris Wednesday. She collected framed photographs of Estes Park and a few musical instruments that a sheriff's deputy found in a pile.

"We took a few things last night. We got a few drawers from my mother's dresser. Now I want to save the dining room table and bedroom furniture."

Though it seems unlikely her clan will set foot inside the family home again, Segesser said she hoped for better days ahead.

Jim Spencer of The Denver Post contributed to this report.