VIDEO — ‘Inherently Wrong’: Georgia Homeowner Jailed After Trying to Remove Alleged Squatter from Home

A Georgia homeowner was jailed after trying a few weeks ago to move back into her Livingston Drive house, which was occupied by an alleged squatter.

The homeowner, Loletha Hale of Clayton County, was charged with criminal trespass and a misdemeanor count of terroristic threats following the December 9 incident, WSB-TV reported on Friday, noting the alleged squatter was not charged in the case:

According to Hale, she called police in August when she found an alleged squatter in her house and notified law enforcement, who cited the person, identified as Sakemeyia Johnson, via the Georgia Squatter Reform Act.

Fox 5 reported in May that “Late last month, Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law the Georgia Squatters Reform Act to protect the homeowner and not people, sometimes whole families, from moving into property, changing the locks, and refusing to leave.”

Per the WSB-TV article, Clayton County Magistrate Court Judge Latrevia Lates-Johnson ruled that Johnson was not a squatter due to the fact she is related to a previously evicted tenant’s partner, a decision that set off a court battle.

A final judgment was later issued that went in Hale’s favor, and she thought Johnson had moved out of the property. However, when Hale arrived to clean up the home she claimed the woman had broken the locks.

Body camera footage shows the December 9 incident with Hale sitting in the back of a police car:

Per the WSB-TV report:

In the incident report, the responding deputy wrote that Hale “executed an illegal eviction and forcibly removed Ms. Johnson’s belongings.”

…

Officers on the scene confirmed with court staff that Hale has not obtained a signed writ of possession in order to legally evict a tenant.

Hale said she has been waiting on a magistrate judge to sign the document.

“To see that woman walk into my mom’s house while I was in the police car, something is wrong with this picture. Something is inherently wrong with this picture,” she stated.

During the December 9 incident, a deputy was heard on body camera telling Hale to see the situation from the alleged squatter’s viewpoint, stating, “Just think of it from this perspective, though. Everybody isn’t as fortunate as you to have a bed. All the little things, a bed in their house, food in the kitchen.”

In March, a similar instance happened in New York City when a homeowner was arrested while dealing with an alleged squatter situation, according to Good Morning America:

Police in South Fulton, Georgia, detained six alleged squatters at a home in the area who were linked to a neighbor’s stolen car, Breitbart News reported in May.