A Georgia homeowner found herself handcuffed and placed behind bars for attempting to move back into her own home.
Loletha Hale has been locked in a months-long battle with an alleged squatter named Sakemeyia Johnson.
After months of filings, hearings, and appeals, Loletha was arrested and removed from her mother’s old home on December 9. She was charged with criminal trespassing and a misdemeanor count of terroristic threats.
Loletha Hale was arrested after attempting to move back into her property after a months-long battle
Sakemeyia, meanwhile, came out of the incident without a single charge in her name.
“I spent the night on a mat on a concrete floor in deplorable conditions while this woman, this squatter, slept in my home,” Loletha told WSB-TV, as quoted by the New York Post.
The homeowner said she had arrived at the property to clean up the house on December 9. What she didn’t expect to see was Sakemeyia on the property with someone else trying to impersonate her.
“I returned on Monday to start painting and she had broken the locks at my property,” Loletha said.
On December 9, a confrontation between the homeowner and the alleged squatter, Sakemeyia Johnson, ended with Loletha facing charges
“She just caught up out of nowhere. She had this guy with her, and I locked the door,” she continued. “I locked the screen door, and he forced himself in telling us to get out.”
After the homeowner refused to back down, police officers arrived at the scene and began siding with Sakemeyia.
They reportedly tried to reason with Loletha, implying that she should be considerate about people less fortunate than her.
“Just think of it from this perspective, though. Everybody isn’t as fortunate as you to have a bed. All the little things, a bed in their house, food in the kitchen,” the officer reportedly said.
“I spent the night on a mat on a concrete floor in deplorable conditions while this woman, this squatter, slept in my home,” Loletha said
But Loletha stood her ground, prompting the officers to handcuff her and haul her away from her own property.
“To see that woman walk into my mom’s house while I was in the police car, something is wrong with this picture. Something is inherently wrong with this picture,” the arrested woman said.
According to her arrest report, she allegedly removed Sakemeyia’s belongings forcibly and threatened to use violence.
She “executed an illegal eviction and forcibly removed Ms. Johnson’s belongings,” and at one point, “could clearly be heard stating ‘leave before I get my gun,’” the arrest report said.
The tussle over the property began all the way back in August when Loletha first caught the alleged squatter living inside the house.
Bodycam footage captured police siding with the squatter before the arrest, saying: “Everybody isn’t as fortunate as you to have a bed”
The homeowner maintained that she had no relation with Sakemeyia, who was merely a relative of a previously evicted tenant’s partner.
Although authorities initially cited Sakemeyia under Georgia’s new Squatter Reform Act, Clayton County Magistrate Court Judge Latrevia Lates-Johnson later ruled that she wasn’t a squatter due to her relation with the previously evicted tenant’s partner.
“I was written a citation saying I was a squatter. But a judge signed an order saying that I wasn’t a squatter,” Sakemeyia was heard saying in bodycam footage on the day of Loletha’s arrest.
After months of court proceedings, Loletha enjoyed a victory in court in November. She succeeded in legally ousting Sakemeyia from the property.
However, the alleged squatter did not heed the court’s decision, and Loletha was surprised to see her still residing at the property when she arrived to clean it up.
The case highlights a troubling rise in squatting disputes in Georgia, with reported cases increasing from three in 2017 to 198 in 2023
“How can she not be squatting when I’ve never had any type of contract relationship with this person?” Loletha told the outlet.
The police officers who arrested Loletha had confirmed with court staff that the homeowner had not yet obtained a “signed writ of possession.” This document would have allowed her to legally evict Sakemeyia.
The number of cases involving homeowners dragging squatters to court has seen an uptick in Georgia in recent years.
In 2017, the number of such cases taken to court in Georgia was only three. This number rose to 50 in 2021, according to a report by the Pacific Legal Foundation. The number of such civil cases further went up to 198 in 2023.
“This is insanity that people just think they can come in and take over somebody’s home. I mean, it’s just outrageous,” Gov. Brian Kemp told Fox News.
The governor signed the Georgia Squatter Reform Act this year, making squatting a crime in the state. The law is aimed at speeding up the eviction process and allowing property owners to seek compensation from squatters for damages.
“I bet the sheriff wouldn’t say that if it was someone up in his house,” one social media user said
