GA: Police no help in removing squatters, sex offender allowed to stay

Source: FOX 5 Atlanta  on YouTube

TUCKER, Ga. – Much has been made over the years of squatters’ rights. “Squatting” is when someone lives in a home, likely rent-free, and has to be kicked out by the courts. Well, here’s a case with a street-side view into one of the most bizarre cases of trying to evict someone you may ever see.

This story involves a legitimate homeowner, a home for sale, and a convicted child sex trafficker. Guess who has the upper hand? It’s the kind of tale that makes homeowners and landlords confused about whose side the law is on.

Meet Ronan McCabe. “This is my home. And there’s somebody in there, an intruder in there, intruders, who I do not know,” he said. FOX 5 I-Team reporter Dana Fowle stood with him at the edge of his wooded corner lot in Tucker.

The home was posted as plain as day online for sale, not for rent. On closing day, homeowner Ronan McCabe discovered people – strangers – had moved in and changed the locks. “They broke into my house and moved in. All the locks had been changed,” he told FOX 5. Just four days before, McCabe called Gwinnett County police. The home had been empty for just a few weeks before it was filled with the strangers’ furniture.

He says the couple inside told police they had a lease. “They have no contract, no agreement, with me,” he assured FOX 5 and law enforcement. “Gwinnett County police are saying there is nothing they can do.”

This was a Friday. He was told to go to the magistrate court the following Monday and file a dispossessory notice, which meant going through a lengthy evictions process in a backed-up court system to get his home back.

Just a day earlier, that man in the house, calling himself “Raymond Cortez,” sent McCabe a text saying he would leave, for a price. “Dana, that’s a shakedown. That’s a shakedown. You kidding me? They want me to pay them to leave my home. That’s scandalous.”

Frustrated and distressed as he now had his house sale on hold, Ronan McCabe called the FOX 5 I-Team. FOX 5 met him at the house, triggering the “Raymond” to text him again. McCabe read the text out loud: “I’m calling the cops. I’m with my attorney drawing up a lawsuit.”

The house squatter told police earlier that he was a member of the “Sovereign Citizens Movement.” They don’t believe in government, identification, taxes – things like that. Ironically, he didn’t mind calling the authorities to help him stay in a home he doesn’t own.

The Gwinnett County Police Department arrived for the third time in five days. But this trip was different. Things had changed, very quickly. A woman who told police she was the man’s wife abruptly left. The man calling himself Raymond came out, went back in, then suddenly U.S. Marshals started flooding the street. It seems they had a parallel investigation.

“Raymond Cortez” was really Ramon Fuertes III, and he was a wanted man. After busting down the door and sliding him across a floor covered in water and soap – meant to trip up police – they had him. Police and court documents show Fuertes is a convicted federal felon. He had been in federal prison for child sex trafficking, accused of prostituting a young teen he called “Lollipop.” Fuertes was wanted for failing to register as sex offender after his release.

Read more and watch the video

 

Related posts

Subscribe
Notify of

We welcome a lively discussion with all view points - keeping in mind...

 

  1. Submissions must be in English
  2. Your submission will be reviewed by one of our volunteer moderators. Moderating decisions may be subjective.
  3. Please keep the tone of your comment civil and courteous. This is a public forum.
  4. Swear words should be starred out such as f*k and s*t and a**
  5. Please avoid the use of derogatory labels.  Always use person-first language.
  6. Please stay on topic - both in terms of the organization in general and this post in particular.
  7. Please refrain from general political statements in (dis)favor of one of the major parties or their representatives.
  8. Please take personal conversations off this forum.
  9. We will not publish any comments advocating for violent or any illegal action.
  10. We cannot connect participants privately - feel free to leave your contact info here. You may want to create a new / free, readily available email address that are not personally identifiable.
  11. Please refrain from copying and pasting repetitive and lengthy amounts of text.
  12. Please do not post in all Caps.
  13. If you wish to link to a serious and relevant media article, legitimate advocacy group or other pertinent web site / document, please provide the full link. No abbreviated / obfuscated links. Posts that include a URL may take considerably longer to be approved.
  14. We suggest to compose lengthy comments in a desktop text editor and copy and paste them into the comment form
  15. We will not publish any posts containing any names not mentioned in the original article.
  16. Please choose a short user name that does not contain links to other web sites or identify real people.  Do not use your real name.
  17. Please do not solicit funds
  18. No discussions about weapons
  19. If you use any abbreviation such as Failure To Register (FTR), Person Forced to Register (PFR) or any others, the first time you use it in a thread, please expand it for new people to better understand.
  20. All commenters are required to provide a real email address where we can contact them.  It will not be displayed on the site.
  21. Please send any input regarding moderation or other website issues via email to moderator [at] all4consolaws [dot] org
  22. We no longer post articles about arrests or accusations, only selected convictions. If your comment contains a link to an arrest or accusation article we will not approve your comment.
  23. If addressing another commenter, please address them by exactly their full display name, do not modify their name. 
ACSOL, including but not limited to its board members and agents, does not provide legal advice on this website.  In addition, ACSOL warns that those who provide comments on this website may or may not be legal professionals on whose advice one can reasonably rely.  
 

6 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Another misleading headline. Once they found out that the squatter was a registrant, they rammed the door down and went in guns blazing to serve an FTR warrant. Before that, it was all shrugging shoulders and claims that nothing could be done. Odds are if he were convicted for drug dealing, he’d still be there now, and this news station wouldn’t have been interested.

Why does the heading say “sex offender” allowed to stay? US Marshalls dragged him out of the house across a soapy floor. That means he’s not staying. Anyway, Raymond lacks a few marbles in his head. A person wanted by US Marshalls shouldn’t be squatting in a house and drawing attention upon themselves. Especially if you’re a married man squatting with another woman that the missus don’t take kindly to.

Last edited 11 months ago by Doc Martin

and it would also prove that he reside there.

They intentionally use the derogatory term “squatting” so-as to create the scary atmosphere that perpetuates the hate and disdain. The media is not our friend. Neither is Google. They want to paint the picture that all sex offenders are worthy of scorn, derision and up to no good and can’t be trusted. We are being used for fear fodder by all sides.