We're hearing from a family whose home was illegally squatted upon during a rash of adverse possession claims that stem back to November of last year.
"I'd be lying to you if I told you everything was fine. It's not," says Meger Chappell.
Chappell and his family purchased a home at 4004 Eagle Landing Parkway in Oak Leaf Plantation, or so they thought. When they went to move in, they found another man, Marcellous Dunbar, had changed the locks on the home.
Several months later, Dunbar has a warrant out for his arrest in Duval county, and 3 others including former mayoral candidate Wally Lee have been arrested for illegally squatting on homes to either live in them or rent them out to others.
"It's been absolutely horrible. But again, we're a military family, we tend to persevere."
In an exclusive interview with WOKV, Chappell says although most of the expenses for repairing the damage Dunbar did were covered by an insurance claim, it still cost a lot of money in the end. He says he's not seeking any sort of legal settlement right now, but just wants he and his family to move on with their lives.
"It [the adverse possession law] didn't apply in this particular case. The individual was arrested, and rightfully so and we'll let the legal system run its course."
In a nutshell, adverse possession states that if a home is left vacant for a certain period of time, under law, a person may move in on the home and occupy it so long as the proper paperwork has been filed and the person wishing to adversely possess the home has paid all the taxes on the home for the time that it was vacant.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, there is an active warrant in Duval county for Marcellous Dunbar's arrest.
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