All language subtitles for Squatters.Get.the.Fuck.Out.of.My.House.S01E06.Dont.Piss.Off.Patti.Peeples.DSNP.WEB.H264-EDITH.en[sdh]

[reporter 1]
Homeowners all across the country

run into issues with squatters.

[reporter 2] Squatters are ready
to make your house their home.

[person] Happening right under our noses,
and nobody knew.

[narrator] Get the fuck out of my house.

[Patti] I didn't know what scamming
looked like with squatters,

this ruse that they're pulling
on people all over the nation.

There were several times
that I was really fearful for my safety.

-I'm not gonna vacate.
-[Patti] I own the house.

-I don't care what you own.
-[reporter] The owner confronted the woman

-and it was captured on cell phone video.
-[Patti] It was very frightening.

-Goddamn it!
-[Patti] Do you have a gun?

I've lived in Florida for about 25 years.

When I retired,
my business partner, Dawn, and I

decided to invest here
in the historic neighborhood.

Springfield, Jacksonville, Florida.

I really wanted to play a part
in the growth of

my neighborhood and city,
which I so dearly love.

And we had a couple of years
of really great experiences,

and at that point in time,
I decided to put the home up for sale.

The house was in immaculate condition.

We just had the interior repainted,
it was recarpeted,

all of the appliances
were in tip-top working order,

and it was really turnkey,
ready to take possession.

We got an offer right away,

but I honestly had no idea
what was ahead of us.

[phone rings]

I was sound asleep,

and I got a phone call
at about seven o'clock in the morning

from a handyman
that had been scheduled to go over there.

I came out of my groggy sleep.
He said, "Patti, I can't get in the house.

There is a mother pit bull
and a lot of puppies

on the locked front porch."

-[barking]
-What in the world is going on?

Who's in there?
That could be really dangerous.

I literally jumped in my car in my pajamas

and immediately called 911.

[dispatcher] 911. What's your emergency?

[radio chatter]

[Dorian] I was first dispatched
to the incident

at around seven o'clock in the morning

in reference to a trespasser
at a residence.

[radio chatter]

-[knocking]
-[dog barks]

I would be going there to investigate
if there was any criminal intent.

[Dorian speaking]

[Patti] Pretty good.

Well, we got kind of
a surprise this morning,

coming up and finding somebody living
in a house that she has for sale.

Yes, I own this house.
My name's Patti Peeples.

I confirmed that Ms. Peeples was,
in fact, the owner of the property.

My first impression of Patti,

she was definitely confused
of the situation.

She didn't know what was going on at all.

We came over,
and these people moved in yesterday.

[Dorian speaking]

-Good morning, Mr. Smith.
-[Dorian speaking]

I identified the tenant to be
Ms. Jai'naye Jacobs,

as well as her co-partner at the time.

She was telling me that
she found the residence on Zillow

and met with a representative
of the property,

where she signed a lease
and provided a deposit.

[Dorian speaking]

[Jai'naye speaking]

[Patti] It was just
complete confusion to me,

and she appeared to be
as confused as I was.

How did you rent the house?
I own the house.

[Dorian speaking]

She showed a handwritten receipt that said
that she had paid first month rent,

a deposit, as well as a pet deposit fee.

The first emotion after confusion
was empathy.

These people are going to be
out on the street,

so we have to figure this out.

[Patti] She started getting defensive.

Why in the world would I pay her $3,100

to leave a home
that she doesn't have a right to be in?

[Dorian] Give me one second.

I figured that there was something
going on that maybe wasn't true or honest.

Somebody at that point was a victim.

I checked resources online
through the Jacksonville sheriff's office.

I began to look through the filings
that the tenant, Ms. Jacobs, had.

It alarmed my suspicion.

[Dorian speaking]

[Dorian speaking]

I was still a little bit of a...
naive at this situation.

[Dorian speaking]

Oh.

All of the pieces came together.

[Dorian speaking]

That was the point
when the whole squatter saga began.

These two young women
had just been evicted from a home.

[Dorian speaking]

Oh.

This was a scam being perpetrated,
and I was smack-dab in the middle of it.

[Dorian speaking]

Right.

Yeah.

Got it.

[Patti] Officer Smith then told me
he was going to

see if he could kind of
press Jai'naye a little bit

and see if she might choose
to vacate herself.

[Dorian speaking]

-So, one of the options...
-Mmm. Mmm.

...I think you and the young lady
should go ahead and possibly move out,

because you're going to be
investigated for fraud, okay?

-[Dorian speaking]
-Mmm.

I noticed that her demeanor
and her attitude began to change.

[Dorian speaking]

[Dorian] I said you should.

Usually when people are victims,
they're not as defensive.

[Dorian speaking]

Mm-hmm.

I am pretty familiar
with the trespassing ordeal.

We have an issue of it
within Jacksonville, Florida.

I was working with the incident
as best as I could,

utilizing the laws that I could.

-[Dorian] Okay, ma'am. You ready?
-[Jai'naye] This conversation...

[Patti] At that point,
Officer Smith said the words

that no rightful homeowner
ever wants to hear.

-[Dorian speaking]
-Yeah.

[Dorian] But the eviction process takes
30 days after the person's been served.

-Holy f... I have a...
-After they've been served.

Goddamn it. Even if...

[Dorian speaking]

-[Patti speaking]
-[Dorian sighs]

[Dorian speaking]

I understand.

It's pretty disheartening.
I felt like my hands were tied.

There was nothing else more
and that it just remains civil in nature.

-[Dorian] All right.
-[Patti] Bye.

[Dorian speaking]

It became really clear
this was going to be a legal battle

and that I didn't have any rights
until a civil court gave them to me.

The real kicker is, we, as the homeowners,

were going to be providing them
with a free place to stay

while this meandered through
the civil court system.

I thought,
this just literally cannot be true

here in the United States of America.

I called my business partner, Dawn,

to let her know that the home sale
was probably on the rocks.

I was like, "Outrageous.
You've got to be kidding.

How dare you do this
and say it's your house?"

They just picked on the wrong two women.
We were ready to fight.

We're going to make this
as uncomfortable as possible.

We have to get rid of them.

[Patti] I drove by that house
probably four to five times a day.

I recorded a lot of these encounters
on my phone in case things went south.

-Please don't approach me.
-I'm not... [stammers] Don't...

I wanted as much evidence as possible.

[Patti speaking]

We would sit on the sidewalk
in front of the house and just stare.

And so they'd know that we were
looking in at all the windows.

It was pretty scary.

They certainly tried to intimidate us,
but we were very determined.

We're gonna keep making your lives
as miserable as we can legally.

[Jai'naye speaking]

[Patti speaking]

This is a house now that, over the days,
we saw some teenagers coming,

and then we saw some men coming.

[man speaking]

Don't get me wrong.
I was nervous a few times.

And while my heart was pounding,

I was able to hold my ground
and stay on the sidewalk.

[Jai'naye speaking]

So you must want me to take this
and break your phone,

'cause I don't think you want me to.

-No, give me this.
-Back up.

Because she shouldn't have
came here with this...

Hey, y'all, please.

[Patti] One day, I happened to see
the front door open,

and I don't see a car in the driveway,
and the dogs were gone.

[barking]

I thought,
"Ah! They have voluntarily left."

I opened the sunroom door
and slowly walked to the front door.

They both walked out.

[Patti] I own the house.
I don't have to go anywhere by law.

[mocking] Yeah, you do! Yeah, you do!

[Patti] You don't own the house.
I own the house.

But... Yeah, no.

-[Patti speaking]
-[Jai'naye speaking]

[Patti speaking]

I was shaking. I was so angry.

-I'm going in the house.
-[Patti speaking]

[Jai'naye speaking]

When she pushed me out that door,
I thought,

"Patti, this is a lot deeper
and more dangerous than you know."

[person] Do you need help?

-[arguing]
-[Patti] You are touching me,

and this lady is... Goddamn it!

-I immediately called the police.
-[dispatcher] 911...

Well, another member of
the Jacksonville sheriff's office came by

and he told me, he said,
"Ms. Peeples, if you do that again,

I will arrest you."
That I was trespassing.

I've never been so angry.

I knew that they were just
destroying the house internally.

[Patti speaking]

[Dawn] Now it's been two weeks,
and we lost the sale.

The person said, "This is just too messy.
I don't want in."

On top of the fact that
we still aren't collecting rent.

It just seemed like
everything was going against us.

[Patti] I was so upset.

This is a notable part of my retirement.
That's what lit a fire under me.

We decided we need help.

The women staying at the house
insist they have every right to be there.

Meanwhile, the homeowner tells us

it's been frustrating and costly
trying to get them out.

Live in Jacksonville,
Anne Maxwell, Channel 4.

This was one of the craziest stories
I have covered as a journalist.

When Patti contacted me,
and I started looking into this,

as a reporter, I was like,
this is a great story.

The brazenness of this squatting scam
was really wild to behold,

and there was all this documentation
to back it up.

We have the police records showing this
wasn't her first time doing this scam.

The two women
were also living in that house

without the owner's knowledge
or permission.

Records show the eviction was finalized

around the same time
they moved into Peeples' house.

In Jacksonville, our audience
could not get enough of the story,

and we followed it very closely.

We would receive so many views

and comments on this story.

Peeples said the officer told her

the women in her house
have rights under Florida law.

When we were reporting
and we would go to the house

and encounter these squatters there,
it was definitely contentious.

You can see just how scary
this has been for these homeowners.

Okay.

[Patti] Did you just threaten us
to bring a gun?

[Anne] Do you have a gun?
Do you have a gun?

Tensions were running high.

[Jai'naye] Wanna come inside a little?

[Jai'naye chuckles]

If this were happening to me,
I don't know how I would react.

[Jai'naye speaking]

My business partner and I
are two tenacious women.

[Jai'naye speaking]

There was not a single thing
that those squatters could have done

that would have made us back down.

They were not gonna win.
We might be older.

We might be not very tough-looking,
but we can work with the law.

They were not gonna get our house from us.

After 36 days...

Jai'naye Jacobs was finally issued
a writ of eviction.

And by law, they had 24 more hours
before they had to leave the premises.

Dawn and I took a big sigh of relief

that this whole ordeal
was just about to be over.

Unfortunately, within a couple of hours,

I got an urgent phone call
from a neighbor,

and they told me that there were cars
all up and down the street.

There were lots of people over,
loud music,

and that they were hearing
what sounded like sledgehammers

being slammed against
the walls and windows.

-So I called the police yet again.
-[dispatcher] 911...

They said that they had no reason to go in

and see what's going on,

and I simply had to wait
till they vacated.

So 24 hours later...

we went inside the house.

And both of our stomachs just dropped.

[Dawn] Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

[Patti] Recording this on April 4
at 2:06 p.m.

The damage is just insane.

[Patti] Is the electrical coming on?

[Dawn] I don't think it's on.

It was a disaster.

Oh, my God.

It smelled of human and dog feces.

[sighs]

You could see from one room into another.
There was nothing but studs left.

Mmm.

The last time that I was in the house,
it was absolutely immaculate.

And now, I looked around,

and it didn't look like
anything I had ever seen.

We could barely walk on the floor

because there were eggs smeared all over
with maggots coming out.

Stolen washer-dryer.
Ripped out the plumbing.

Windows were smashed.

And it was those last 24 hours

when the bulk of the damage
was clearly done on the house.

This felt just completely personal.

There was absolutely no reason
other than to retaliate.

It's been psychologically damaging.
There's a sense of safety being violated.

I knew they were brazen,

but I never thought that
they would do something like this.

Peeples says it's $38,000 worth of damage.

A high price
on top of an expensive eviction,

a lost offer on the house,
and months worth of repairs.

The police filed criminal charges
against Jai'naye Jacobs for the damage.

It was more than a year
before she was arrested.

[reporter 1] A squatting saga
could soon be resolved.

[reporter 2] Today, she was in court
for an arraignment.

Anything you wanna say to the people
whose houses you stayed in?

Unfortunately, that wasn't me.

That is you in the video.
What are you talking about?

That wasn't. I don't know what you're
talking about. Any more questions?

What? And of course it was her.

We had the video.

I think it just shows
how comfortable she was with lying.

The other squatter hasn't faced
any legal criminal consequences.

But Jai'naye eventually pled guilty
to criminal mischief and trespassing.

I can sympathize with the situation
that you may have found yourself in.

What I don't sympathize with
is the damage that was done.

She was sentenced to 30 days in jail
and ordered to pay $3,600 in restitution.

But if you think about it,
if somebody is squatting in a home,

they're not gonna have the funds
to pay for the damage caused.

We have to date received
maybe around $1,000 from her.

Anger was a catalyst.

I decided to fix this
in the state of Florida.

I'm here to testify
on the impact of squatters.

[reporter] Patti Peeples
is using her experience

to try to prevent others
from going through the same thing.

Now state lawmakers have passed a bill
to put a stop to it.

The new bill allows police
to immediately evict somebody from a home

if they don't have a valid lease.

With the way the laws are right now,
in other states,

you could walk into your home,

find someone sitting on your couch,
eating your food,

and you would have no right whatsoever
to ask them to leave.

Stay vigilant.
This should not happen to anyone else.