Squatter evicted from home of active duty Army officer, arrested after Channel 2 investigation

We Begin Now with an update to a Channel 2 Action News investigation a local army officer is back in her DeKalb County home tonight a week after we told you about how a squatter had moved in and was living in her place well the woman's crediting Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray for getting her back in her home and Justin with us and that squatter is now Behind Bars well Justin normally homeowners are told they have to go through the Affliction process which can take months that's what Lieutenant Colonel Dalia duray was initially told by DeKalb Police earlier this month but after our Channel 2 Action News story aired the Dekalb Sheriff's Office contacted her and said they will con circumvent that process with something called an intruder affidavit it wasn't for channel two Justin Gray I wouldn't be here to them I'm truly grateful look at all the stuff pulled out of this DeKalb County house the alleged squatter Vincent Simon had only been in the home a matter of weeks but you can see he had really moved in even his dogs had to be carted out our Channel 2 Action News photographer was there camera rolling as Simon was moved out of Lieutenant Colonel Dalia durres Ellenwood home by order of an intruder affidavit just as I've finished renovating you leisurely moved in like it's yours no I was not going to let this go it was one week ago that Lieutenant Colonel durray first reached out to channel 2. she put her home up for sale while away on Army active duty in Chicago when this convicted criminal moved in putting up beware of dog signs and cardboard in the windows claiming he had a lease duray was told by police she would have to take him to court and go through a formal eviction process I felt violated had I not been serving my country I would have been in my home but this week doray got to see Simon LED out of the house in cuffs Vincent your time is up I feel good when you can return the home back to their homeowner police found a gun and suspected ecstasy in the home you can see the giant gun safe Simon had brought in as a convicted felon he legally cannot have a firearm he attempted to show us the lease that that's not the what the law allows normally showing a bogus lease or even just claiming to have a lease is enough to get a squatter case can it to a months-long court battle we want to have protections of tenants but you don't want protection of squatters DeKalb County Attorney John Ernst has been fighting a similar squatter case for a client since February and says these cases regularly drag on for months with delays both in the courts and with the marshals his client still isn't back in his home it's been three months since the they were moved in um and uh will probably have at least another month month and a half but with the Sheriff's Office bypassing that eviction process to Ray now has her house back I came here with a mission in mind to get him out of my house and put him in jail where he belongs and Menace should accomplished for the lieutenant colonel durray the attorney we talked to John Ernst he's also the mayor of Brookhaven and says he has been looking at this on the public policy side as well on how to make the process more efficient obviously the Dekalb Sheriff's stepping in here with that Intruder affidavit sped up all of this for lieutenant to Ray by definitely weeks and likely months Justin Justin Gray well done thank you now there are ways to protect your property from squatters some of the easiest things that you can do is to secure all entrances to your property also post signs saying no trespassing you can hire a property management company to carry out regular Home Inspections and they can help you find a desirable tenant to make sure that there are no squatters on your property

Channel: WSB-TV

Views: 2,644,242

Keywords: WSB-TV, Fox5, Atlanta, Georgia, WAGA, news, 11Alive, channel 2, fox 5, atlanta news, wsb, 11 alive, ajc, abc news, wxia, georgia news, squatter arrested, squatter's rights, squatter evicted, squatter eviction

Id: aNOu5O6w_3w

Length: 3min 39sec (219 seconds)

Published: Mon May 22 2023