Free Republic

A U.S. Army officer says a squatter moved into her DeKalb County home while she was serving on active duty, and now she can’t have him evicted. She told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray that she found out when her real estate agent was making final preparations to sell the house. “He’s not a tenant. He’s a squatter,” Lt. Colonel Dahlia Daure said. There are ‘beware of dog’ signs in some windows and cardboard covering others at her Ellenwood home in DeKalb County. Daure says someone she’s never met moved in without her knowledge or permission, and now won’t...

A heartless home health aide and her family allegedly commandeered a patient’s Upper East Side apartment, refusing to let her daughter in after the 103-year-old woman’s death — and cruelly threatening to flush the old lady’s ashes down the toilet if she tried, according to court records. Incredibly, the alleged squatters claim they have “succession rights” to the East 86th Street pad because they were like “family” to the dying woman, according to court papers. Tatiana Abello, her mother, and sister have been living in the $ 2,088-a-month, two-bedroom, rent-stabilized pad for 18 months and counting since their elderly charge,...

It took three years for New York City landlords to remove squatter tenants who refused to leave and refused to allow them into the property. The squatters extensively damaged the property but were finally removed by the police. Unfortunately, building inspectors immediately began issuing citations following the eviction totaling $5,000.

The West Village “grifter” who lived rent free for three years in one of NYC’s priciest neighborhoods, partly by exploiting New York’s eviction moratorium, has finally been given the boot. Kate Gladstone, who also uses the name Katherine Klein, was evicted from owner Valentina Bajada and Heidi Russell’s two-bedroom Barrow Street pad Thursday, in an hours-long spectacle attracting a small crowd of workers and neighbors. The saga began in June 2019, when Gladstone moved in with her child, paying $2,000 for a room in the apartment on a month-to-month basis. Similar apartments in the neighborhood can rent for nearly $7,000...

An Airbnb renter is facing charges after allegedly running around mostly nude and assaulting a disabled man over 65 years of age. Stephanie Joanne Lewis, 47, was charged with felony lewd or lascivious exhibition in the presence of an elderly and disabled person, assault on a person 65 years of age or older, and resisting an officer without violence. Lewis overstayed her Airbnb rental in the upstairs area of the victim’s home, according to an arrest report which states she is a narcotics user with a history of violent, erratic behavior and keeps “a collection of butcher knives” in her...

n alleged drug dealer and his cronies have hijacked a Bronx home and the squatters are now terrorizing a once-quiet area with dope deals, prostitution, loud music and harassment of anyone who walks past their front porch, neighbors claim.

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Homeowners say they found a man who allegedly broke into a house in Roy on Tuesday. They say the stranger was trying to change the locks on a house that wasn’t his, even filling the fridge with food. The incident happened around 1 p.m. on 284th Street E in a rural area of Roy in Pierce County. The last owner of the house, who KIRO7 is identifying only as T, said he had just sold the property a week ago when he heard there was a problem. He asked KIRO7 not to share his name because...

Last Wednesday (March 14th) Ryan Bundy appeared in Las Vegas to announce that he will be a candidate for Governor of Nevada this year. Bundy's intention is to run as an independent, running against the Republican and Democrat candidates in the general election this fall. Soon Bundy will be on a listening tour across the state of Nevada as his candidacy moves forward. His brother Ammon posted on Facebook today (March 17th) regarding President Trump's announcement of a plan for monthly Governors Council to deal with federal state issues from federal regulation to federal funding aimed at states. His post...

Mother Jones writes, "It's not easy to evict someone in California… Generally that's a good thing." But many people who read the article in which this claim appears may reach a different conclusion.Elizabeth Abel, an English professor at the University of California-Berkeley, rented her two-bedroom home to David Peritz, who teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. Abel didn't bother to ask for references or do much research on her prospective tenant, according to Mother Jones: the fact that he was an academic was essentially good enough for her.Her trust was misplaced. Peritz failed to pay rent on time, and it...

Here’s Detroit reporter Charlie LeDuff, a truly great writer and character, giving a Detroit squatter a taste of her (his? It’s somewhat in question.) own medicine. A homeowner had allegedly been attacked by the squatter while trying to sell the property, so LeDuff paid a visit: Detroit homeowner Sarah Hamilton wanted to sell her house, but was having some trouble. No, it wasn’t a down seller’s market — it was a squatter. Hamilton had a difficult battle: In the process of trying to get Lynn Williams out her house, WJBK-TV reported Hamilton was threatened with a knife. But things got...

Detroit homeowner Sarah Hamilton wanted to sell her house, but was having some trouble. No, it wasn’t a down seller's market -- it was a squatter... But things got more interesting after WJBK reporter Charlie LeDuff entered the picture. He met with the homeowner and her attorney, and was given a set of keys and the proper paperwork...

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — A South Florida renter came home to find people living inside his house but the family illegally squatting inside said they are not leaving. The owner of the property on SW 5th street and 49th Avenue said his friend William Ruiz has been renting the house for the past two years and recently started to move out while the house was listed for short sale. Ruiz went on vacation for two days and said when he came back, he found the locks on the house changed and strangers living inside using his belongings. “They’re using his bed,...

A California Airbnb host says a guest is squatting in her 600-square-foot Palm Springs condo and is now threatening to sue her. Cory Tschogl, 39, described the situation as a 'horror story' and says she begged Airbnb for help through scores of emails and phone calls but the accommodation marketplace failed to get the renter out. He now has renters' protection under California law because he's been there longer than 30 days and it'll take three to six months, a lawyer and thousands of dollars to evict him.

NEW PORT RICHEY -- The man accused of squatting in an out-of-town Army veteran’s New Port Richey home has been arrested yet again. This time, police said 42-year-old Julio Ortiz is one of several suspects behind a bank robbery Monday morning. Police said Ortiz used his girlfriend, Fatima Cardoso’s Honda Accord as the getaway car, after holding up a Wells Fargo bank on Massachusetts Avenue. Police said a tip quickly came in leading them right to the car, which was parked in front of a home on Greenwood Street. Police said Ortiz had been living there, ever since leaving his...

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL (WFLA) - Our 8 On Your Side story about a New Port Richey soldier who says his home has been taken over by squatters is striking a nerve in the community and now, the squatters are moving out. The house of Army Spc. Michael Sharkey sat almost empty early Thursday morning after two squatters said they moved out the day before. Two dogs left in the house were barking all morning and one of them got out. After an '8 ON YOUR SIDE' investigation, Julio Ortiz and his girlfriend started packing up their belongings at the...

President Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango, who was denied asylum in the United States but stayed illegally for years, died Tuesday at age 61. Onyango, whose immigration status was reported by The Associated Press days before Obama’s election in 2008, had been treated in recent months for cancer and respiratory problems, Cleveland attorney Margaret Wong said. She died in a Boston rehabilitation center, said Wong, who represented her in her immigration case. Onyango, a half-sister of Obama’s late father, moved from Kenya to the U.S. in 2000 and was denied asylum by an immigration judge in 2004. She remained in...

Bigfoot Living Among the Ruins of Detroit! DETROIT (Cryptozoology News) — A family claim they saw a strange ape-like creature Thursday afternoon coming out of the window of an abandoned house on the outskirts of the desolate city. C. Brown, his wife, and their two children said they were “driving around, looking to buy a new house”, when they allegedly witnessed the unidentified beast. “The economy has been devastating here man,” Brown explained. “One day, you are living in this beautiful city with over a million and a half working people, next day all you know is all is gone…crime...

Picture the Homeless, a Bronx nonprofit that has received at least $240,000 in taxpayer money in the last five years, is giving a crash course on squatting — and city-owned buildings are a prime target. Two weeks ago, board member Andres Perez held a teach-in on how to wrest “control” of vacant apartments. He called it “homesteading.” “The best time to enter a building is in the late hours,” he advised a group of about 20, who gathered in front of the half-empty East New York housing complex Arlington Village. “You make sure you have your proper tools. You remove...

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. (CBS Atlanta) — An illegal immigrant from Guatemala will be able to collect $750,000 he won from a lottery ticket he purchased in 2010. A Houston County Superior Court jury ruled in 27-year-old Tony Cua-Toc’s favor Thursday that he was the rightful owner of the Jingle Jumbo Bucks lottery ticket, according to the Macon Telegraph. Cua-Toc, who entered the country illegally in 2000, claimed that the business owner he worked for, Erick Cervantes, claimed the winning lottery ticket for him and ended up keeping the money, according to the paper.

If someone you knew claimed to have bought a new house for $16, you'd probably expect it to be a rundown hovel. But for Kenneth Robinson, that princely sum could see him as the new owner of a $300,000 home in an well-manicured part of Flower Mound, Texas. On June 17, Mr Robinson took advantage of a little known Texas law to move into the abandoned home. The house had been in foreclosure for more than a year and its owner walked away. Then, the mortgage company went bust. Kenneth Robinson answers the front door at his $16 manse Kenneth...