01 November 2023 , 11:26
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Authorites in Florida have arrested 19 squatters, who are accused of destroying a motel, leaving behind an "atrocious" scene with $15,000 worth of damage.
The squatters are charged with trespassing the now vacant Budget Inn in Gainesville, Alachua County - a premises that police have been called to dozens of times in the past, according to WCJB. County spokesman Mark Sexton told the Gainesville Sun: "This time there were a lot of people there, a lot of damage to the facilities. They had broken into the utilities."
He continued: "There was an enormous amount of drug paraphernalia and alcohol. It was just a really atrocious scene that we found." It took cops three hours to clear the building's 36 rooms - some of which had been barricaded from the inside.
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Alachua County commissioners voted to purchase the motel in 2020 for a fee in excess of $2 million. The building was scheduled to be used as part of a transitional housing plan, incorporating a shelter for the homeless. However, those works are yet to begin with the county awaiting state funding for renovation.
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Following the incident, the motel - which is surrounded by fencing and no trespassing signs - was boarded up. A county spokesperson said there are now plans to employ a security guard at the site.
Sexton added: "We wish we could get to this project right now. We are all chomping at the bit to get this project done, but federal, state, county it’s complicated and we have to follow all the rules."
It follows a previous incident that saw a squatter help himself to an Alachua County home (WINK)Some 24 hours, earlier, meanwhile, officers in Lee County arrested another suspected squatter who is alleged to have broken into a home, reports WINK. Emmanuel Pierre, 25, allegedly drove a car into the home's driveway before entering the property and setting up a videogame console in a bedroom and helping himself to the kitchen appliances.
The homeowner discovered the intruder behind the wheel of his car after being alerted to a temperature increase on his smart thermostat and subsequently called 911. He then blocked Pierre from leaving until officers from the sheriff's office arrived, who charged him with burglary and stealing a car.
Another unsavoury incident occured in the state in July that saw a group of squatters turfed out of a $1million home, which they left teeming with bugs. Police managed to get the 10 people - seven men, two women and a child - out of the Fort Lauderdale home, which one law enforcement official described as "totally damaged."
"It's bug infested," Mike Fisten, an investigator for the Broward Property Appraiser's office Crimes Against Property team, told CBS Miami. " He added: "The walls are damaged. The flooring is damaged. The windows are damaged. The whole area is totally damaged."
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office evicted the group including the child from the home on Seabreeze Boulevard after it was found they were there illegally.