A Georgia homeowner was arrested and charged with criminal trespass after attempting to move back into her home, which was occupied by an alleged squatter.
‘I spent the night on a mat on a concrete floor in appalling conditions. While this woman, this squatter, was sleeping in my house,” Loletha Hale said WSB TV Atlanta.
On December 9, Clayton County police and sheriff’s deputies were called to the home on Livingston Drive after Hale attempted to regain entry.
A deputy, captured on body camera footage, advised Hale to consider the alleged squatter’s perspective.
‘Just look at it from this perspective. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a bed. All the little things, a bed in their house, food in the kitchen,” the deputy said.
The dispute began in August when Hale discovered the alleged squatter, Sakemeyia Johnson, in the house and contacted police.
Authorities cited Johnson under Georgia’s new Squatter Reform Act.
However, Clayton County Magistrate Court Judge Latrevia Lates-Johnson ruled that Johnson was not a squatter because she was related to the partner of a previously evicted tenant.
Georgian homeowner Loletha Hale (pictured) was arrested and charged with criminal trespass after attempting to move back into her home, which was occupied by an alleged squatter, Sakemeyia Johnson
A deputy, captured on body camera footage, advised Hale to consider the alleged squatter’s perspective
“How can she not squat when I never had a contractual relationship with this person?” Hale said.
In bodycam footage of the December 9 incident, Johnson explained to officers: “I was issued a citation stating that I was a squatter. But a judge signed an order saying I was not a squatter.”
This led to a lengthy legal battle, with multiple filings, hearings and even Johnson filing for bankruptcy, naming Hale as her sole creditor.
On November 18, a magistrate judge ruled in Hale’s favor. Hale believed Johnson had left the property and returned to begin cleaning up.
However, when she arrived on December 9, she found that the locks had been changed and Johnson was still there.
“I came back on Monday to start painting and she had broken the locks on my house,” Hale explained.
‘She just came out of nowhere. She had a man with her and I locked the door. “I locked the screen door and he forced himself to tell us to get out,” Johnson told police.
Johnson described in the report how Hale and a man showed up and locked the door. She added that the man forcefully entered and demanded they leave.
Hale was indicted after attempting to forcibly remove Johnson, and the case remains unsolved, with Johnson not charged
Pictured: Hale waiting on the steps of her own home before her arrest
Agents confirmed that Hale had not obtained the proper legal document, a signed writ of execution, to deport Johnson.
Hale admits she had been waiting for the summons for weeks and explains her frustration: “To see that woman walk into my mother’s house while I was in the police car, there’s something wrong with this photo. There is something inherently wrong with this image.’
The alleged squatter, Johnson, has not been charged with any crime. Meanwhile, Hale was charged with criminal trespass and a misdemeanor count of terroristic threats.