A FURIOUS homeowner ended up in jail charged with criminal trespass after trying to move back into her home taken over by an illegal squatter.
Loletha Hale has slammed cops after authorities claimed that the woman living in her home was not squatting.
A homeowner was jailed after confronting a squatterCredit: WSBTV
Loletha Hale has hit out at the police’s responseCredit: WSBTV
Hale was told to see things ‘from her squatter’s point of view’Credit: WSBTV
The homeowner from Clayton County, south of Atlanta, Georgia, first encountered Sakemeyia Johnson living in her property in August.
Hale called the police who cited Johnson using the new Georgia Squatter Reform Act.
But Clayton County Magistrate Court Judge Latrevia Lates-Johnson ruled that she was not a squatter because she is related to the previously evicted tenant’s partner.
“How can she not be squatting when I’ve never had any type of contract relationship with this person?” Hale told local ABC affiliate WSBTV.
Then on December 9, a stunned Hale found cops at her front door.
Bodycam footage shows an officer explaining to Hale why she should see things from the alleged squatter’s point of view.
“Just think of it from this perspective, though,” the officer says in the footage.
“Everybody isn’t as fortunate as you to have a bed. All the little things, a bed in their house, food in the kitchen.”
The case sparked a multi-month court battle with filings, hearings, and appeals.
Johnson even filed for bankruptcy, listing Hale as her only creditor.
On November 18, a magistrate judge issued a final judgment in Hale’s favor.
Hale believed her nightmare was over and came over the weekend to start cleaning up her home.
But when she returned on Monday she discovered Johnson had broken the locks at her property.
“She just caught up out of nowhere. She had this guy with him, and I locked the door,” Johnson told police.
“I locked the screen door, and he forced himself in telling us to get out.”
In the incident report, the responding deputy said that Hale had “executed an illegal eviction and forcibly removed Ms Johnson’s belongings.”
The report states that in cell phone video Hale can be heard telling Johnson to leave before she got her gun.
Hale has been charged with criminal trespassing and a misdemeanor count of terroristic threats.
Johnson has not been charged with any crime.
The Clayton County Sheriff’s Department did not respond immediately to The U.S. Sun’s requests for comment.
In an earlier statement, Chief Magistrate Judge Keisha Wright Hill said, “A timetable for the resolution of this matter cannot be given by the Clayton County Magistrate Court, as the tenant filed a timely appeal to the Superior Court of Clayton County.
“Any timelines would have to be addressed by Superior Court.
“The previous delay in this matter was a result of the tenant fil