Original subtitles

I have a lease for this property. You're no longer dealing with an older lady.

You know what you can do?

You tell me. You can leave.

Why are you standing so close? Is it worth it? I'm mentally distraught. This

is unacceptable.

I just can't do this.

I told you to stop talking to me.

I'm Flash Shelton. In 2019, squatters took over my mom's home. The sheriff

couldn't get him out.

So I did.

Turns out my family is not alone. Across America, thousands of homeowners get

locked out when a squatter moves in. Now my team and I, we're coming in, travel

across the country, confronting these squatters face to face. We're not going

anywhere to help families get their homes back.

I'm here in Brentwood, New York, to meet Maria.

This could be a dangerous situation for this homeowner. She has squatters that

are actually living in her house with her.

Maria? Hi, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I wish it was under better

terms. Unfortunately, this is what we're dealing with. So I understand you have a

squatter situation.

Yes. So you are living with your squatters.

Yes, and this has destroyed my sanity, my health, and my home. So how long have

your squatters been in your home?

They haven't paid me rent for seven months.

These people have caused a lot of anxiety.

Mentally, emotionally, I'm at wit's end.

I turned my basement into an efficiency room for my grandson who's in the

service. So he was staying there previously?

Yes, and he's now deployed.

He said, Grandma, why don't you just rent out my apartment temporarily to

make some extra money? He's coming back soon.

I understand there's two people in there now. These are the devils with two legs.

Okay. Okay, that is... And that's... Unfortunately, when I rented

to him, we didn't vet him properly. I didn't look at his background.

Okay. Okay. All right.

What was the original agreement?

One individual, the maximum six months.

Okay. I didn't do a lease, so I just told the person that I would rent them,

you know, month to month cash.

However, he had his girlfriend sneaking in, disturbing my sleep at 3.30 in the

morning, and then he stopped paying rent.

So I approached him and I said, this is not working out.

When are you intending to move? He said, in August.

August came and went.

We're now in March.

They're still there.

Wow, okay.

Have they ever come up into your living space, or are you scared of that?

The bathroom is a Jack and Jill, where it has doors on both sides.

A connection between your space and their space? Yes.

Do you still have access to that bathroom?

He took it upon himself to screw my door closed.

Okay. The thing is that the walls are very thin, and I heard his friend on the

phone telling him, why don't you just bolt the doors?

And you could stay there for a year or two without paying rent.

In New York State, you could do that.

All I hear is they're screaming and fighting every day.

I got on the 911 and I called and the police came and ordered him to come out

with his hands up.

She took her things that she wasn't going to come back. At three o'clock in

the morning, she came back.

These are the type of fights and drama that happens on my property. Do they

have a separate entrance from you? Yes, it's in the back of the house. So if you

look at this photo.

This is my house.

That's the entrance to the gate that leads downstairs into the basement.

Okay. We're going to plan on taking over your property. Sure. And one of the

things that I want to do today is do a lease and create a vulnerable space for

them. Of course.

Okay. Because they are in a single unit, it doesn't allow me to move in with

them.

So do you have any place to go while we're in your unit? Yes, that's been

arranged. Okay.

This has impacted severely my emotional and mental state. I'm unable to

sleep. I suffered a mini stroke.

This is affecting me too much.

My goal is not only to get them out from your house, but also to prevent them

from doing this again. Thank you very much.

All right, great.

All right, so we're heading to the house to confront our squatters.

Okay.

Now, Mike, you were able to run background?

Yeah, he's got a decent criminal record.

He's been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance,

criminal trespassing, and criminal mischief.

All of that shows character that he doesn't really care about anybody else.

Looking at an older lady and know that you're hurting her.

You have to be a certain type of person.

You've got to be a piece of crap.

Oh, yeah.

They've changed the law, and the owner no longer has access to the unit.

Yesterday, she put up a 24-hour notice to enter for inspection, so that's going

to allow us to enter the property today.

All right, guys.

It's a lot of work. Yeah.

So my name is Flash.

Good for you.

We're entering the property for inspection.

Try to.

Okay. Try to, because if you enter here, I'll be forced to put hands on you.

Okay, so you're threatening me?

You'll be breaking into my property. Okay, so you're threatening me?

Yes. Yes.

Whatever.

All right, we're coming in.

Try to.

Okay. Try to, because if you enter here, I'll be forced to put me in there.

Okay, so you're threatening me? Yeah.

Whatever. Hey.

Nobody's putting random anybody in.

I mean, you just said that on camera.

No. I have a lease for this property. We have now moved in. You're no longer

dealing with an older lady.

Good for you.

Hey, open the door.

Just want to let me talk to you.

You know what you can do? You tell me. Whatever your name is, you can leave.

All right, we're coming in.

I don't give a... You were given 24-hour notice. That's all the law requires.

I just want to have a conversation with you and do an inspection.

You ain't inspecting anything.

It is illegal for you to change the law.

It ain't illegal for me to do nothing when somebody enters my property

illegally.

Do you understand that we have the right... to change the locks here, and

we will give you a key.

You don't have legal... I'll tell you what happens if you come into this

apartment. Okay, you tell me.

You will be arrested.

Call the police.

That is not a threat to us at all. From what I have learned, the police are

always here, and it's never a positive experience for him.

That's the last thing I'm saying. Hey, I want to talk to you about you vacating.

We're not talking about anything else?

When I vacate, it has nothing to do with you.

All right. You have until the end of the day to open the doors, the joining

doors, or you can give us a key.

The joining doors? Those doors are not locked.

You don't need a key.

So are you saying you did not screw those doors closed?

Those doors are not screwed closed. Okay. So I will confirm that, and then I

will keep them closed.

No, that's not how this works.

That is absolutely how the law works. Sorry.

You were given 24-hour notice. That's all the law requires.

Thank you.

All right, we'll try this again.

All right, let's go in and verify the doors. All right.

He's trying to scare me with his words, but bottom line is we have every right

to enter that basement.

All right, so I'm going to try those doors downstairs.

Let's do it.

Downstairs in the basement, there's a bathroom that directly connects the

squatter's unit with the main house.

We're just going to verify that this door will open.

And I'm checking the door that they claim open.

But it does not open.

Yeah, I can. The door's not moving. It's secured somehow.

No. No.

You cannot come in. You cannot come in the door. I am verifying that this door

opens. The door opens. You're not allowed in my apartment, so you cannot

come in here.

This could go so much easier. The longer you don't talk to me, the longer I stay

here.

They're putting on music to drown out my voice, right?

Have a good day.

All right.

We'll be here when you want to talk.

This is a pain in the ass kind of squatter.

He's hiding behind a door, doesn't want to cooperate at all, and wants to claim

that he's a victim.

All right, guys, tried the door. He said it's not screwed closed.

I didn't notice screws, but they had something, you know, barricading or

holding it somehow.

I'm going to try to concentrate on her if I get another chance to talk to them.

He's difficult to reason with.

Okay, so right now I want to be on alert, so I'm thinking we put a camera

over in that corner over there.

I don't believe that they'll see one hiding around this fence right here.

So I think if we can move it right here, we're going to get the same perfect

view.

Mike, I want you to be monitoring this. You got it. This is going to help us see

if anyone else approaches the property. Okay. All right.

Oh, they're leaving.

They're leaving right now. They're leaving right now.

Oh, they're leaving.

They're leaving right now. They're leaving right now.

Back the f*** up. Just want to talk to you guys, man.

Why are you getting in so close?

If you're truly not... Hey, if you're truly not a squatter, just talk to me.

Ain't nobody here a squatter.

Okay, then talk to me. I don't get nothing from talking to you. Yes, you

do. I can help you.

I can help you.

Thanks for the cooperation.

All right.

Mike, just keep an eye on the camera because I don't want to be surprised by

them. And for all I know, they're coming back with reinforcements.

He was a big guy behind that door, but not as much outside.

How's the surveillance going? Anything?

Yeah, we had some stuff in the middle of the night.

At 435, they enter the premises.

I think that happened.

Yeah. Okay.

And then early this morning, she left the premises.

Okay. And what about the other one? Nothing.

So we know that he's been aggressive, but I'm going to work on my de

-escalation and do everything I can to get them to voluntarily vacate the

property.

High five.

Good morning.

I told you stop talking to me.

Guys. Why are you talking to me?

But I want to hear your side of the story.

Okay. We're just here to figure out what's going on and hear both sides of

the story.

Figure it out.

Figure it out?

Figure it out.

I can't reason with him. He's aggressive, and he's someone who just

doesn't take any responsibility for himself.

You guys are hilarious.

Get the f*** out of my face.

He knows he's been taking advantage of an older woman living alone, but he's

not showing any behavior of somebody who feels any remorse for this situation at

all. Can you open the door, please?

Mom, I just want to talk to you. Open the door.

Give me the bullhorn.

Just open the door and let's talk.

I just want to have a conversation with you.

This guy is one of the top, most obnoxious squatters I've ever dealt

with. I need to keep my eye on the goal and do everything that I can to get in

that basement.

And we ensure that Maria is rid of her squatters.

Dad, it's the police!

We didn't call them.

Squatters, Mr. Calder.

What's going on?

I am a leaseholder of the property and an agent of the building.

So we have squatters that are living in the back of this.

Do you have all the paperwork that you're the leaseholder?

Sure.

All right, so here is the lease.

We put up a 24-hour notice for inspection purposes.

They've refused that.

So who owns the house?

This woman right here.

Okay, and where is she?

Ten minutes away.

So if we could get Maria here.

They've requested the homeowner be present.

Hopefully when Maria gets here, we can get access and give Maria back some

control of her home.

All right, so the police have requested your presence. Okay. And we're trying to

get them to allow us to go in for inspection purposes.

Yes, because they bolted themselves in without my permission, and he hasn't

given me a key.

Yeah. All right. This is Maria. Hi, Maria. So she... They're going to knock

on the door.

They're going to willingly let you in? Yeah.

All right, let's go knock on the door.

These squatters, they thought that they were being smart, thought calling law

enforcement was going to work out in their favor, but it actually backfired.

And now these officers are going to do a door knock for Maria and try to get her

in the basement.

Suffolk County Police.

He's going to knock on the door.

Suffolk County Police.

Can you do me a favor, please? Can you open the door for a second?

We're going to let Maria do her inspection.

The squadron man, he tries to act really tough. But then, of course, as soon as

Petey arrives on the scene, now you can hear a mouse pissing on cotton.

All right. All right.

He knew that if he stayed in there and was quiet, they had to stand down.

But it is not the officers that I blame.

The system is broken.

I know you did what you could. It is what it is, right?

I'm mentally distraught.

This is unacceptable.

I just can't do this.

I'm a nervous wreck.

I understand you've been going through a lot, and I can feel your pain right now.

Hey, heads up.

Maria, let me handle this.

Hey.

Seriously,

man, I just want to talk to you.

Do you want to be treated like a squatter? I mean, I can help you. If you

lock me in, we're going to have problems. Hey.

I appreciate it.

All right.

Now that she's alone, this is a good opportunity for me to divide and

conquer. All right?

With the obnoxious squatter leaving, his girlfriend might be willing to talk.

Maybe she doesn't have all the information.

Can you hear me? I just wanted to take a minute to talk to you.

I don't have to talk to you. But ignoring me isn't going to make this go

away. If you cooperate, I can help with vacating, with a rental.

But if you don't cooperate, I can't help you at all.

You're wasting your time.

Don't bother somebody else. Do you understand why this was supposed to be a

temporary situation?

This unit is for her grandson before he deploys.

I don't care.

Well, it's my impression that we didn't tell you the whole story.

This is the one that hasn't paid rent since August.

So there may be other things you're not aware of.

She's on the phone with him.

Okay, and what about...

If you sign an agreement that you're going to leave in two weeks, then we are

done here. We will move on.

All right.

Thank you for talking to me.

Maria, I do have some good news for you.

They're going to vacate, and she gave me a date 14 days from now.

And if they don't vacate, then I am going to be there for you as a mediator

moving forward.

Thank you.

All these months I've had no support.

However, with Mr. Flash, I no longer feel alone.

That's the loser.

Finally got out.

I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Hi, Flash.

Hi. I'm going to go in here for the first time.

Well, it's exciting. You have your whole home back.

Oh, my God.

Look at this.

Underwood in the refrigerator.

Oh, my.

Sorry.

Flash, I can't believe these people.

Not only do they live for free in somebody's house, but they turn around

and be vindictive and destroy where they're actually living.

I'm so sorry.

What is the plan now with your basement?

My plan is to recover my home and use it for family use only.

Now my grandson Alex and his wife, they can come and visit and spend time with

me like they used to do.

Well, Maria, I wish you well, and I want you to take care of yourself.

And will you please follow back up with us when your grandson comes back?

Absolutely, will do.