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Squatter calls police on property owner, bizarre situation continues

11 months 3 weeks 3 days ago Monday, November 13 2023 Nov 13, 2023 November 13, 2023 5:30 PM November 13, 2023 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - A man with a history of squatting in houses that aren't his is staying. The Baton Rouge Police Department showed up to a 2 On Your Side shoot Monday morning but the person who called wasn't the property owner.

Richard Craven went knocking on the door looking for the man who has moved into his in-laws house Monday. No one answered, but soon after the police showed up and Joey Guerin stepped out to speak with them. Guerin called the police.

Craven inherited the house on Goodwood Boulevard from his in-laws. The property is still in their name. The plan was to fix it up and sell it, but he hasn't had the chance to.

"I've come over here, I cut the grass, I clean everything up, I put no trespassing signs, I secure everything, and I come back and now Joey's back in town and got control of the house again," Craven said.

This isn't the first time it's happened. Guerin moved into the house months ago. He changed the locks, brought in his own furniture, added black paint and graffiti on the walls. The house was on the market for a day before a realtor heard from Craven about what was going on.

Guerin was arrested in April for unauthorized entry. After posting a $5,000 bail he came back and resumed his living situation. Craven says he's having a lot of trouble getting control of the house because there's confusion over paperwork. He says Guerin is producing documents with his name forged on them. Craven says it's how Guerin continues to evade the law.

"He's like Teflon Don," Craven said. 

Over the weekend, the next door neighbor had some issues when someone tried tampering with their water meter. Tools were left behind along with the iron meter lid and some piping.

"They made a big mess, apparently someone tried to turn it on and it continued to leak up and down the street," said the neighbor.

There's no water service at the Goodwood house where Guerin is living. The Baton Rouge Water Company says it received a "no water" call at an address nearby Friday night. When they arrived they found that customer's meter had been stolen. Water was restored to that house, but the meter is still missing.

Neighbors say they are tired of the disruption and complain of traffic at all hours of the night.

"Nobody wants to get involved," Craven said. 

While Guerin is living in the house, Craven says he's decided to let it go into foreclosure.

Guerin is scheduled to appear for a motion hearing Wednesday morning in Louise Hines court involving this case. 

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