Moving day for squatters, but where will they go next?
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PORTLAND, Ore. – The squatters booted from a home on Thursday removed their stuff from the house Friday, and since at least two of them have done this before, the question is where they will head next.
Police say they have found evidence across Portland that the squatters are targeting homes in danger of foreclosure.
Three of the four known squatters loaded up a van and a truck with their belongings Friday outside the home in the 6100 block of North Mississippi.
Kerry Cunneen, who has been arrested for squatting in another home in February, responded to KATU Thom Jensen’s question of where she and the others were headed next by saying, "We're just going to live together from now on – you and me, Thom."
No one gave a straight answer about whether they were simply going to take over another distressed home or try to make traditional living arrangements.
But inside the house, it was a disaster. Trash, sleeping bags and laundry were piled up everywhere. Walls were also knocked out or had holes in them to make room for sleeping spaces or storage.
Also inside were anarchy emblems and writings and socialist teachings. In an upstairs bedroom there were boxes of brand new locking door knobs. The real owner of the home, 66-year-old Gloria Johnson, who is now remarried and has taken the last name, Canson, found a lock like that on her door four months ago.
"I'm really sorry," she said Friday. "I know that there are a lot of people who don't have places to live in but don't take advantage of the people that you're supposed to be helping."
Canson, a school teacher, did miss payments after paying huge medical bills and decided to move out in August after getting what looked like a real eviction letter from her bank. Neighbors said a few weeks later the squatters moved in.
"I needed to prepare myself for teaching. I couldn't move and teach," she said.
While packing, one of the squatters would only repeatedly blame banks for causing homelessness in response to questions.
A KATU News crew followed the squatters as they left in a truck in an effort to determine where they were headed next. But the squatters dodged the tail and at one point jumped out of the truck and took off on foot.
Canson has put up a new "For Sale" sign at the home, saying it's just too far gone. The home is now up for short sale.
Not condoning the actions of the deadbeat squatters in the least but the teacher is a piece of work also. She receives an 'eviction notice', does not follow-up with the bank to verify or work out a payment plan, moves out of the house because she could not 'move and teach' and puts the home for sale as response to the damage leaving any new owner with a hefty repair bill.  She seems lacking in reading comprehension and personal responsibility.  Perhaps one of the squatters was a previous student and learned his/her lesson well.
I live in NoPo and these people are NOT wanted here. Seriously, thieves and homeland terrorists is all they are.Â
katu, doing their jobs...as homeless kid deterring vigilante's. Â No wonder I left your hick state. Â Your media sucks.
 @johny6 Yeah they are not kids but rather sneaky law breaking people that are unproductive members of society. They remind me of the SLA.
This is a classic severe bad case of head up rectum.? a very distinct possibility of a connection to occupy U.S.A..?
You know the weird thing is..they paid the bills .. so they do have money..
i also vote that their next resident is the city jail for about 1000 days for fraud and unlawful home invasion. why bother to own a home if we can't protect it from squatters.
put them in jail.
entitlement age scum...someone needs to press charges against them. then they will get arrested
As many suggest, put them in jail. However while in jail, they need to work. Sweeping, mopping, picking up garbage on the streets. Make them earn their food and cot. No work...no food. Simple fix.
 @Just Lookin They paid the bills, so te logic behind this is wierd, KATU failed to mention that part.
How about to work? They have at least limited access to a large van, they appear to be able to walk and carry objects. They therefore have the tools necessary to create work / income to support themselves. Try hauling debris, landscaping, small moving work, set up a car wash, lots of farm work available etc...The biggest obstacle to their success are their socialist beliefs. Upon them opening their eyes to the real world the rest of us live in, I wish them the best.
I'm finding it really difficult to accept the idea that some people can just move into/onto the property of others (including public property), just because they "have issues" with something or someone.   Â
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"While packing, one of the squatters would only repeatedly blame banks for causing homelessness in response to questions."Â (from the story)
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I don't condone, by a long shot, with what some of the banks have done; but trespassing, vandalizing and destroying property are crimes...and multiple wrongs do NOT make a right.Â
 @margay1 iagree
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 @KATU Yup, but what about extenuating circumstances isn't there protection against that?
and would Bank of America have records on what letters were sent? what about the letter wouldn't there be evidence on that letter? DNA, Finger prints and such? What about the envelope wouldn't it contain water marks? and wouldn't the letter contain water marks?
 @KATU Merriam-Webster  Dictionary: "Definition of TENANT1a : one who holds or possesses real estate or sometimes personal property (as a security) by any kind of right. b : one who has the occupation or temporary possession of lands or tenements of another; specifically : one who rents or leases (as a house) from a landlord". Therefore Squatters are not tenants according to MW..
 @32jim2 How ever A house is different, there is no Landlord . in other words she pays the bank for her house not a "land lord" so if there is no land lord, and the house is vacated, then there is no entity other then the bank.
Way to go Thom Jensen. Keep on it and track these morons down. They are nothing but opportunistic parasites who live off the misery of others and in this case created misery for the real home owner.
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Find out why they have not been charged with a crime in this invasion.
 @RalphCramden The Native Americans want their stolen land back, or is that different?
Why Ask Why is "like spamming."
they  didn't Break in , the Conned there way in. Then the person left Voluntarily thinking she was evicted from her bank.
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Eh any one else having issues with locks up and freezes and crashes with this Live wire?
I was using windows turned to Linux and it works perfectly fine, while in windows and in Android (mobile there are issues) and they include Freezing up the android, Weird things with Windows is it drops the spell checking and goes into some really weird mode, totally crashed IE 11, but then it is beta, and just a few other things.
also the courser seems to disappear in Windows 8 . seems like Linux is the only compatible thing with this site, Maybe OSX.
I wish I lived near her. I would go and offer to help paint and dry wall. It is sad that in a previous article a squatter said they had been making improvements. If his idea of improvements is destroying this house then, all I have to say is wow. I wish the police could have arrested them all, for breaking and entering, destruction of property, grand theft (since they basically stole the home) and what ever else they could throw at them. Then lock them up in the most hidden spot in the jail and walk away.
Not sure I understand how these people are allowed to take over a house, trash it, and then just move on to another. But I do "love" the anarchists. They don't mind using what others have built but never contribute anything themselves. Must be part of the me first generation.
 @Nobody My daughter calls it the slacker generation. Her bf (now dead from an auto accident when he was in his 20's) would tell her, "Don't worry about working. Someone else will always take care of that!"
Several articles on this situation and it still hasn't been answered why they aren't being charged with anything. KATU, please explain.
 @HuskyKMA I agree KATU you need to further investigate why.
Why haven't the Police arrested these people? Is it legal to squat in homes???
I also don't get these people that embrace anarchy and socialism, I don't understand how people can hold contradicting views.
I really think it's time that the only social service the City offers to these transients are one way bus tickets to the other side of the Country. That's how we end homelessness in Portland, by making sure the services we have today aren't going to out of state transients.Â
 @Orbit As a paralegal, I can tell you there is a public policy in law disfavoring abandoned property. Under those circumstances over a period of years, squatting can ripen into adverse possession and ultimately lawful ownership. But there are 4 prongs of an analysis that must be met:
1) Open (no sneaking/hiding)
2) Notorious (no apologies, no concessions--just an adamant claim the property is yours. Some kind of document/color of law is helpful)
3) Adverse (The owner cannot have given you permission--that's not 'adverse', but consensual)
4) Hostile (The claim must be clearing antagonistic to the true owners' title over the course of years of continuous squatting.)
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After 7-10 years of squatting and paying property taxes on the parcel in some states for the shorter duration, a Quiet Title action can be filed to litigate legal ownership. If done correctly, the squatters may prevail--but most don't have the discipline/patience/stability to take it that far/long.
Where are they going to live next? Â From the sounds of it, it should be the county jail.
After reviewing the video the people are starting to show signs of being a danger to society. They have money coming in from some where because they have legal tags of their riggs.
Also they are clean cut.
There is something more suspicious about this group then meets the eye and to "Dodge an investigative Crew suggests something along the lines of something more sinister at work. It takes a lot of effort to ditch a van following you. KATU a word of Caution, I would careful on following these individuals no one knows what there capable of and some groups are playing for keeps using tire jacks and other methods to prevent following. I realize you guys have training, but even an officer was directly targeted at an intersection and was rammed by a person who was arrested prior, even the officer said he was not prepared for that.
were living in different times that of the past.
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I know these tacticts do exist. and I do know that they are about to be used.
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 @lee986321 (A)narchist have (& not only in the U.S.) put out a kind of 'fatwa' on journalists urging other like minded violently radical street elements to assault and injure them for taking photos on public streets. Journalists *are* at risk, have been assaulted, stalked, and injured, and should adopt a buddy system.
 @lee986321 "dodge an investigative Crew"? KATU, You guys need to learn how to tail instead of chase.
Also to let you know I do know what I am talking about there is this:
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Special Devices -- Special devices such as smokescreens, oil slicks, and spotlights should be employed just before turns. If your pursuer is blinded or goes into a skid just before a turn, he will very likely crash.
Further more while such devices may or may not be legal I would not suggest using them .
I used this as an example.
While Younger I did many things in my youth. But I never robbed or killed any one.
But I sure put some pesky bullies behind me if they were dumb enough to chase me in a car.
Oh and I "tire Jacked" a few as well . But this was way back in my younger years, thank God we all grow up.
What a bunch of f...ing losers.
I'm rarely an internet tough guy, but these people really make me want to bust their heads. I wish I could see that girl in 20 years and see her on welfare living in some flop house.
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No homeowner deserves that kind of scum disrupting their lives.
 @AndyP I suspect the group reasoned she was giving it to the bank anyway or she wouldn't have been conned by the letter. In their minds, they weren't stealing from her, but the bank. I'm not entirely certain they were wrong in their calculus.
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I think we need to know why sqatters have certain rights we may not be aware of? note firefox works on this in androi. I think.
 @lee986321 Squatters *do* have certain rights of which many are unaware. e.g. A squatter may trespass (deny access/entrance) to anyone save the owner who has a greater legal right/claim to the property than the squatter. So say I'm squatting, and you are a news crew--I can order you off the property. Public policy disfavors abandoned property.
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This may all sound sinister, but consider some other contexts:
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Many years ago here in Washington State, I was a single parent on public assistance w/2 small children. Yet I managed to pay the rent on time each month and my kids were in school. Washington allows a landlord to give a 20-day notice to quit for no reason and even though you're current in your rent. There's no legal remedy to avoid this scenario. I pleaded with the landlord when he informed me he'd decided to put the home on the market to sell, begging for at least 30 days to provide me enough time to move a household full of furniture, clothing, and personal effects of a family of 3 and to find another place we could afford, hopefully in the same school district. The landlord was a total pig about it and wouldn't budge an inch. As it so happened, on the 20th day, he showed up with his teenage kids and a gas powered weed whacker to cut down the blackberry vines in the yard. I was still in the process of moving and had not been able to totally evacuate our home as yet on such short notice. He knocks on the door. I answer. It's late Friday afternoon. "Why are you still here?" says he. "Get off the property, NOW!" says I. He's smart, and he does. I reason he doesn't have time to go to the expense to start an unlawful detainer action and Monday (when the courts open) is a long ways away. Even then, I'd have had at least a couple of weeks, possibly months, before he could actually extract me. I acted very deliberately as a 'squatter' under the circumstances, and I had certain rights in law I knew would protect me.
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The (A)narchists being investigated, clearly had more sophistication in this arena than those on this blog criticizing them.
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Wow these freeloaders need to be stoped! Why are they not arrested??? Can anyone answer this? This is craaazy!
ok this is working on tue android but with fire fox beta. I get no text on the screen save for the spell checker. KATU said they are worm ng to figure this out.
If they are targeting homes in danger of fore closure then, othey are getting personal information.kI would be more worried about how there getting their information as it could lead to I'Id theft., Ian on my Androi
 @lee986321 Easy...they pilfer the on street mailboxes.
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They should stay at the houses of people that voted for Sammy. Come on, you know you want them.
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 @archangels007 Well, so we throw these guys in jail, and how many others do we have to let go to keep them in jail? Jails only hold so many people.
@archangels007 --Good idea, but then as taxpayers, we will be paying for thier 3 hots and a cot.
I agree! Why can't they be charged with vandalism at least? I can't  get my head around the fact the police do NOTHING.
Here is another arrest story for the same woman from back in 2010.  Just another pdx anarchist brat looking to benefit from protests that have nothing to do with her. Â
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http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/07/oakland_transit_officer_shooti.htmlÂ
Search deeper in public information & discover her father is a Sr Portfolio Manager at a large investment company specializing in Mortgage Securities Investments.  I'd suspect there are some serious daddy issues going on here.  I wonder if he did something as offensive of telling her she had to work for a living? Â
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 @@nticapitalist Thanks for the input - I never said she did live in NC.  I clearly hit a sore nerve somewhere.  And guess what - someone can live in NY & work for a company based in NC.  happens all the time "anticapitalist"  I'd suggest you look for ways to be part of the solution - not exploit further on the problem. Â