A judge has sentenced a squatter in Florida to 30 days in jail after rejecting the defendant’s plea deal.
A woman pleaded guilty last month in Jacksonville to trespassing and criminal mischief as squatting cases increase across the country.
Judge Julie Taylor said after the 30 days in jail, the squatter will face two years’ probation and must also pay $3,600 to the homeowner she victimized. This will be paid out in $200 monthly checks. Florida news outlets have not released the name of the woman due to the crimes being misdemeanors.
To some, it’s a rare case in which squatters are being held accountable as homeowners report increasing numbers of unlawful tenants staying without paying rent.
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Florida has also passed a law to prevent further squatting cases like these, now allowing law enforcement to remove squatters from a homeowner’s property if no proof of lease is available.
While the homeowner and squatter in this case originally reached a plea agreement to keep the defendant out of jail, the court chose to jail the squatter anyway because of the extent of the damage.
“The carpet was destroyed in all of the rooms with human feces, dog feces, eggs, garbage, trash,” homeowner Patti Peeples said, as reported by News 4 Jax.
The squatter initially claimed she was the victim of a rental scam and stayed in the Jacksonville home for months without Peeples’ consent.
Due to her claim, the defendant was able to stay while Peeples pursued the civil court process to evict her and another woman to regain access to her home.
“I incurred significant cost and legal fees, lost a house sale, lost sleep, lost my sense of safety, and suffered substantial lost income. As a retiree, this really hurt me,” Peeples said on the witness stand.
From the damage left behind on the property, Peeples’ insurance paid around $29,000, but it was estimated the repairs would cost $38,000. Peeples also lost any money from a potential sale of the property, plus the several months of rent money from last year.
“I think the plea deal was rejected as the court saw the damage done and decided to issue some sort of justice,” nationwide title and escrow expert Alan Chang told Newsweek. “The monetary settlement is just a small fraction of the actual damage done, but it is better than nothing.”
The squatter did not testify in court but had several friends and family speak to her character.
“I do want the court to know we all make bad decisions, and we all do bad things; however, that core person is still phenomenal. That’s still there. That’s who she is today,” the squatter’s sister, Shaneka Gaulden, said.
Taylor said while she sympathized with the squatter’s situation, she couldn’t sympathize with the damage done to the house.
“I know that there have been statements made and arguments made to indicate that maybe you did not do all of the damage that was done to the home, but certainly you were the one living in the home … and I don’t think there’s any argument over that,” Taylor said.
For Peeples, the 1 1/2 years of waiting for the case to clear has been trying.
“This has been a long road,” Peeples said. “It’s been a year and a half. I don’t relish seeing anyone go to jail to be truthful. I think she deserves to go to jail, but truthfully it didn’t give me any satisfaction seeing her go out in handcuffs.”
The new Florida law that permits police to immediately remove squatters if they do not present a valid lease could be an example for other states on how to mitigate the growing squatter problem.
Many other states legally protect tenants and require a long, drawn-out court process to evict squatters from a property.
Broker Ben Caballero said criminals always seek protections through the law, making laws like Florida’s essential in fighting this type of crime.
“A criminal’s job is to find ways to unjustly enrich themselves and when they find a weakness in the law, word gets around to other criminals and the activity increases,” Caballero told Newsweek.
