Polk County is making arrests as it investigates about 20 cases of "adverse possession" in which a person tries to take over a vacant home, usually one that's been placed in bankruptcy.
The latest to be arrested is 31-year-old Stacey Ann Fuchs of Lakeland who told deputies that she researched the topic of adverse possession online and felt she had the right to move into a vacated home.
"It's an 1861 law that allowed people to turn over property even though they didn't have proper title through inheritance back in the day," Sheriff Grady Judd explained.
To use it today to take a home in bankruptcy is "clearly against the law," he added.
The case was uncovered when the home's owner noticed the locks had been changed and some stranger's possessions were moved in. The owner had just reached a foreclosure agreement with her bank and occasionally checked on her former home.
The sheriff's office was notified and got Fuchs to admit that she had changed the locks on the house.
She was booked into the Polk County Jail on counts of burglary and grand theft.
Last month, the sheriff's office arrested 40-year-old Leslie Hurd in a similiar case. Hurd also changed the locks on the doors of a home and claimed adverse possession. She's bonded out of jail, but remains under investigation.
"There's no such thing as a free lunch, and we are going to arrest people who try this scam to steal homes in Polk County," Judd added.
