squatters rights again

[RACER X]

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/07/2...judges-ruling/

Last August the Donovans moved to Indiana to pursue a job opportunity. They winterized their home on South Mabre Court and left for the Midwest for eight months. To their surprise, when they returned, a new family was living in their home, claiming they had a legal right to do so.

A long-anticipated homecoming for a Littleton family has hit a legal roadblock. Two weeks ago a judge ruled in favor of the Donovan family, giving squatters just two days to leave their home. Since then, the squatters have filed a flurry of legal paperwork and have managed to stave off an eviction slated for this week.

[Trip]

The thief is helping them.

[OneSickPsycho]

Uh, really? Is this THAT difficult? There's absolutely NO reason why these people shouldn't be kicked out on their ass and the keys handed over to the rightful owners...

[Adeptus_Minor]

It's absolutely ridiculous that this can even happen.
It should be simple.

1. If you don't own the home outright, are you the one under contract, making payments to a lending institution? If yes, then the house is 'yours'. If not, then get the fuck out.

2. If you own the home outright, you should have the deed. If you do, then the house is yours. If not, then get the fuck out.

So where's the problem and what legal precedent allows them to stall an eviction when their very occupation of the place was ruled illegal?

[Trip]

looks like they are going to be arrested and may have already fled

http://www.ourcoloradonews.com/littl...a4bcf887a.html

Things just keep getting worse for both families caught up in the Mabre Court real-estate scandal, with one indicted on criminal charges and the other still homeless.

On Aug. 2, a Denver grand jury indicted Jose Caraveo, 39, and Veronica Fernandez-Beleta, 40, of first-degree criminal trespass and second-degree burglary, both felonies. The grand jury found there is enough evidence to charge the couple with knowingly breaking into the home of Troy and Dayna Donovan and living there illegally. Denver DA spokesperson Lynn Kimbrough said an arrest warrant was issued, and police will go to the home if they don’t turn themselves in.

Also indicted were Alfonso Carrillo, 50, and Rudy Breda, 53, who each face racketeering charges on top of multiple counts of theft, burglary and criminal trespass, all felonies. Carrillo is charged with 18 separate counts; Breda with 10.

Fernandez-Beleta says Carrillo offered to help her family obtain the house for $5,000, and she believed he was legitimate. On July 23, Fernandez-Beleta’s daughter Caren said her mom doesn’t know what to believe now.

“If it turns out Alfonso did defraud us, then she’ll cooperate with the investigation so they can stop him from doing it to anyone else,” said Caren. “But if it turns out it’s not really the Donovans’, we’re going to fight to keep the house.”

According to a press release, the indictment alleges Carrillo and Breda found homeowners facing foreclosure and convinced them to relinquish their properties for a nominal fee, misrepresenting it as a way to avoid foreclosure, then “selling” the homes using phony documents. They’re also accused breaking into empty homes and taking thousands of dollars in payments from unsuspecting “buyers” – often Spanish-speaking people who were undocumented and fearful of law enforcement. The “buyers” were forced out when mortgage lenders or the actual property owners discovered them.

The trouble for these two families all started last year, when the Donovans ran into financial dire straits. Troy Donovan finally got a job with a race team in Indiana, and his wife says she winterized the house and joined him there in August.

In the meantime, Caraveo, a landscaper, and Fernandez-Beleta, a housecleaner, met Carrillo, who told them he could help them get a home. They paid him $5,000 to help with paperwork to obtain the house, they say, not as rent or a down payment. He helped them record adverse-possession paperwork with the county clerk, which they believed entitled them to the house.

“She believed him instantly, because everybody else closes the door on you,” said Fernandez-Beleta’s daughter Caren, interpreting for her mom on July 23. “So when he came saying he was going to help us, of course we believed him.”

Colorado’s adverse-possession law says a person can claim an abandoned piece of property after 18 years, or seven if they’ve been paying the taxes.

The Donovans, of course, believe the other family knew full well what they were doing. They called the Littleton Police Department right away, but the police ruled it a civil matter.

“We’re the victims,” wrote Dayna Donovan in an e-mail. “We won a judgment fair and square. Now we’re homeless and unable to find jobs until we can get our home back.” The Donovans and their two daughters have been staying with family in Greeley.

Troy and Dayna Donovan were expecting to get their home back after a judge ruled on July 12 it was legally theirs and gave the other family 48 hours to leave. But Fernandez-Beleta filed bankruptcy, blocking the eviction that was set for July 25.

“We cannot describe the disappointment we have in our judicial system,” wrote the Donovans on their website, www.stealyourhouse.com.

Dayna Donovan was a bit more specific in her email to the Littleton Independent.

“Who in the hell files bankruptcy on something that was never theirs?” she asked. “It was decided on by a judge that we own the home. … Boo hoo for the criminals in that house. We paid the mortgage for 12 years and made it the nicest house on the street. … (I’m) sick to my stomach that the city of Littleton is so scared of their reputation that they’ll sell out the true victims. They should’ve been arrested when we first contacted Littleton PD.”

Arrest warrants have been issued for Carrillo and Breda; bond has been set at $750,000 for Carrillo and $20,000 for Breda. Kimbrough said they are negotiating their surrender, but had not turned themselves in by 2:30 p.m. Aug. 3. Their next court date has not yet been set.

Caraveo and Fernandez-Beleta’s bonds are set at $1,000 each, but a court date won’t be set until they are arrested. Doug Romero has been named in other media as their lawyer, but he says he’s not and never has been; rather, he was briefly assigned to represent Carillo and 78 others, including Caraveo and Fernandez-Beleta, in a class-action suit against mortgage lenders.

“We’re trying to distance ourselves from Mr. Carrillo,” said Romero. “We didn’t realize all the shenanigans he was involved in.”

That suit was dismissed.

A knock on the Mabre Court house Aug. 6 drew no response, not even from the two poodles that were there with Fernandez-Beleta and her family three weeks ago.

[Particle Man]

How did this ever get to the freaking courts?

[fatbuckRTO]

When I first read about this a few months ago, I thought that maybe the squatting family were just as much victims of this guy Alfonso Carrillo as the Donovans. The more I hear about their actions throughout the case, though, and the more I think about it... screw them. They know exactly what they're doing at this point.

Anybody who tries to use adverse possession these days is pretty much a crook anyway. Property doesn't just sit un-owned anymore. It belongs to a person, a bank, or the taxpayers. Any way you slice it, "adverse possession" is theft.

[askmrjesus]

Here's an idea:

How about you get the fuck out of my house, before I blow your head off?

WTF?

JC

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by askmrjesus

Here's an idea:

How about you get the fuck out of my house, before I blow your head off?

WTF?

JC

That would be my approach on things.

[azoomm]

Yeah, seems perfectly legitimate to pay $5000 for a house. They seem like perfectly innocent victims.

/sarcasm

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

I don't know that I would have been patient enough to let the law handle this.