Get off my lawn! 5 times squatters took advantage of unwitting homeowners in 2024
Homeowners nationwide have had their lives turned upside down this year by squatters who have brazenly taken over their homes, often leading to protracted legal processes and thousands in damages.
Florida, Georgia, Alabama, West Virginia and New York passed laws this year that restricted squatting, increased criminal penalties or to legally facilitate lengthy removal proceedings in court after a number of high-profile squatter cases.
1. Squatter charged after allegedly taking over $1M property, getting homeowner arrested for changing locks
On Feb. 29, Brian Rodriguez forced his way back into Adele Andaloro's $1 million home in Queens, New York, after she had changed the locks, pushing his way into the house as she tried to hold the door closed, according to the Queens District Attorney.
When he claimed that he was a legal tenant and Andaloro was trying to legally evict him, police had no choice but to remove Andaloro from the property; in New York, it's against the law to turn off the utilities, change the locks and remove the belongings of someone who claims to be a tenant.
She was forced to take her case to the Queens District Attorney where an investigation was launched - two months after Andaloro was cuffed by police on her own property, Rodriguez was finally arrested, and he pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment.
Rodriguez, 35, faces charges of second-degree burglary, fourth-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, second-degree criminal trespass and fourth-degree criminal mischief. Although he has been removed from Andaloro's home, the criminal case against him is ongoing.
2. New York squatters allegedly killed woman, stuffed her in duffel bag
A teen squatter couple allegedly beat New York mother Nadia Vitel to death when she found them living in her Manhattan apartment in March.
Vitel, 52, was found dead in a duffel bag hidden under a pile of coats in her 19th-floor East 31st Street apartment by her son on March 14, Fox News Digital previously reported. Her beloved dog was alone at the scene.
Halley Tejada, 19, and Kensley Alston, 18, fled the scene toward Pennsylvania in Vitel's Lexus SUV after they stomped on Vitel and stuffed her into the bag while she was still breathing, prosecutors said.
Before the duo was captured nine days later, they went on a shopping spree with Vitel's credit cards. Among their purchases were clothing, food, AirPods, a PS5 and a diamond ring, District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote in a press release.
Tejada and Alston were charged with second-degree murder, burglary, robbery, criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny and concealment of a human corpse, per their indictments.
3. Wyoming realtor gets anti-squatter legislation moving after terrifying encounter
Even residents of Wyoming, America's least populous state, have fallen victim to squatters commandeering their homes. Ronna Boril, who has sold homes in the state for five decades, helped set new anti-squatter legislation in motion after her own terrifying confrontation.
She told Fox News Digital that her confrontation with squatters started after she evicted a previous lawful tenant from her property for nonpayment.
"I thought that the property was vacant," she recalled. "I was going into the property, and I heard footsteps, and I thought, ‘What the heck?’"
Then she saw a large, unfamiliar man at the top of the stairs.
"He says, 'Who are you and what are you doing in this property?'" Boril recalled. "I said, ‘Who are you, and what are you doing on this property? I could ask you the same thing.’"
Suddenly, "there were men coming out of all corners of the house like cockroaches," Boril said.
Five other men appeared and told her that they had a lease to the property, but they could not produce any paperwork. Boril told them she had owned the building in Casper since the '80s.
She said she would be back with the police in the morning, but both the local police and sheriff's department told her they could not help and that she would have to pursue the matter in civil court.
"The next morning, I went back with a large fellow. We unlocked and they were gone. But the place was trashed: filthy clothing, filthy mattresses, needles and drug paraphernalia everywhere," she said. "I started de-trashing the property. It cost me somewhere between $15,000 and $18,000."
At that point, she contacted state Sen. Jim Anderson. Both were shocked to find that squatting was not a problem limited to coastal states like California and New York.
Approved 10-4 by the state legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee, the Wyoming bill now needs to be approved on the state Senate floor. If passed into law, the bill would make squatting that involves property destruction a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
SQUATTERS MEET RESISTANCE WITH RED STATE PUSH TO PROTECT HOMEOWNERS
4. Texas homeowners who finally evicted squatter 'treated like criminals'
After finally evicting a contractor-turned-squatter from their new home, a pair of Texas homeowners said law enforcement made them feel like wrongdoers throughout their two-month ordeal.
Yudith Matthews and Navy veteran Abram Mendez, who bought the San Antonio home to accommodate their growing family, said they felt "powerless" amid a legal system that "takes advantage of homeowners … and the working class" over "entitled" squatters, even when their safety was jeopardized.
When the couple hired a handyman to fix their new house, he asked to stay on a couch inside the house. When they realized he had amassed an alarming number of possessions inside, they called the San Antonio Police Department.
He had not stayed in the home for the requisite 30 days to be considered a squatter under Texas property law when police were first called to the property on Feb. 29, but the couple claim officers made no efforts to verify his opposing account or even check his identification.
After an extensive legal process and several confrontations, the married couple evicted the squatter two months later. They said they incurred about $17,000 in damages, utilities and court fees, clearing out the "last actual dollars" in their account.
TEXAS HOMEOWNERS WHO FINALLY EVICTED SQUATTER 'TREATED LIKE CRIMINALS'
5. Squatter pirates in Florida setting up homes on abandoned boats
Squatters in Florida are increasingly moving into derelict boats dumped along the coast, according to authorities working to clear the boats and squatters.
"We’ve seen a tremendous increase, actually, throughout the county," Martin County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Michael Dougherty told local media in January. "You’ll have vagrants squatting on the boat, it falling apart, there have been several instances where the boats have come loose and ran into the docks."
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office says it has long dealt with derelict boats left to rot along the Florida coast, but authorities say homeless individuals are now increasingly taking up residence on the boats. The county is located along Florida’s southeastern coast and includes cities such as Jupiter Island and Jensen Beach.
"One of the byproducts of having a lot of vessels in our area is some of these vessels tend to get rundown hard and become inoperable," Chief Deputy John Budensiek told Fox News Digital. "And because they become inoperable, some of these owners will abandon them, or they'll sell them to someone who doesn't re-register the vessel. Those people, in turn, stay on these boats or run these vessels until they are completely unusable. And they sink, or they leak fuel, if they have the capacity to carry fuel, or they leak human waste, and they become a real danger to us environmentally."