Buying a house can often come with the risk of moving in and finding an infestation of vermin. In this case, a Georgia homeowner has moved into her new property only to find a squatter living in her home, leading to the homeowner being arrested.
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After a long and arduous legal process, Loletha Hale finally thought she was able to move into her own property. However, Sakemeyia Johnson was still living at the house, despite being ordered to leave months earlier.
Hale had arrived at her new home, looking forward to clearing it out and moving in, but Sakemeyia Johnson refused to leave. When police were called to the situation, Hale was arrested after trying to get the squatter to leave.
On arrival at her property, she found that, "I returned on Monday to start painting and she had broken the locks at my property." The woman living in her house had never been her tenant and was merely related to the previous owner. "She just caught up out of nowhere. She had this guy with her, and I locked the door. I locked the screen door, and he forced himself in telling us to get out," she added.
Georgia Woman Arrested For Evicting Squatter
The squatter called the police on Hale, leading to her being arrested. In a perverse switch in justice, the woman was taken to jail for trying to live on her own property. "I spent the night on a mat on a concrete floor in deplorable conditions while this woman, this squatter, slept in my home," Hale lamented.
Despite the home belonging to Hale, and the squatter never being a tenant, the police arrested the homeowner. They took her to jail for the night because she "executed an illegal eviction and forcibly removed Ms. Johnson's belongings." She was clearly angry at still having to deal with the uninvited house guest and was getting desperate.
Since then, she has been charged with a misdemeanor count of terroristic threats and criminal trespassing. Johnson, the alleged squatter has not been charged with anything despite breaking and entering. The ruling is an odd one. It is making it very difficult for Hale to move into her own home.
