CHICAGO (WLS) — A Chicago man says he did the unthinkable when he discovered alleged squatters in his property: He decided to move in with them.
Marco Velazquez is the owner of a South Side property, which is on the market to be sold. He says his realtor came by with a potential buyer, but there were already people inside.
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“I couldn’t believe it. It was like a nightmare,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez says a woman named Shermaine and her boyfriend, Codarro, moved in, claiming they recently purchased the property.
He says the couple showed police this mortgage document, but Cook County confirmed that they do not see that mortgage on-record.
Velazquez’s realtor recorded a video as the couple explained to police that they had a right to be there.
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“The worst thing happened, when police told me they couldn’t do anything. It needs to go to a civil court,” Velazquez said.
He says police told them that under Illinois’ current law, they could not remove anyone.
“I said, ‘I’m not going to leave.’ Called a couple friends, stayed overnight and I knew they were not going to like that,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez says he, his wife and their friends spent the night with the alleged squatters.
“We stayed in the living room, watching the door. They stayed in one of the bedrooms,” Velazquez said. “We stayed a whole night with them.”
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The next morning, Velazquez said, he realized they were not budging.
“They were like, we want $8,000 of what we paid, so we can leave your property,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez says they negotiated. He had the couple sign a cash-for-key agreement and paid them $4,300 to leave.
“We didn’t want to give them money, but we heard really bad stories about squatters taking over properties for six, eight,10 months, even a year,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez said weeks later, a Chicago police detective informed him that one of the alleged squatters is the same woman accused of squatting in Marcia and Calrton Lee’s home, after leaving his property.
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In the Lees’ case, Shermaine Powell-Gillard was arrested and charged with burglary, forgery, obstructing identification and criminal residential trespassing.
Velazquez says he’s working with the detective and hopes action is taken in his case, too.
“I heard stories before about squatters. I never thought it would happen to me,” Velazquez said.
The accused squatter, Powell-Gillard, said claims that she is a squatter are false and unfounded, and wrote “innocent until proven guilty.”
ABC7 also reached out to her alleged boyfriend, Codarro, but did not immediately hear back.
CPD did not confirm if they are currently investigating this new case. No one has been arrested or charged in this case.
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