Woman Arrested After Moving Into Vacationing Family's Home

WFTV.com ^ | 10/22/04

[muggs]

Give us an update if they have more info.

[HungarianGypsy]

My husband teases me about laying claim to houses when they aren't for sale ("That's my house.") But I have yet to move in to one.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Jesse Ventura sighting??

[Bacon Man]

Freaky.

[isthisnickcool]

Hey, I know a couple of guys that have not been to work for about a year and a half while still getting pay and benefits. One day they both decided they just would not go to work anymore. And they left. Walked out.

One of them sits around all day having people mess with his hair. The other guy was goose hunting the other day in between standing in front of groups of union members who themselves are FORCED to leave work just to stand around the second guy and hold signs.

What's really strange is these two guys have stolen all that money because they have not been at work but nobody has thrown them in jail yet.

[sweetliberty]

Here's a strange one for you. I guess that's one way to deal with the high cost of housing....until you get caught anyway.

[muggs]

the high cost of housing....until you get caught anyway.

She's still getting free housing.

[GeronL]

That took a good fifteen seconds to sink in/ lol

[eddie willers]

Now, why would Beverly Valentine break into Beverly Mitchell's home?

Cheaper than Beverly Hill's?

[Restorer]

I broke into a house once and cleaned their carpet.

Although in my defense the office wrote the address down wrong and their side door was unlocked as it was supposed to be.

Got one irate phone call and one very confused phone call that evening!

[aberaussie]

That multiple murder in Deltona, Fl, right before Hurricane Charley was a result of a woman discovering that some people had moved into her grandparents' empty house and having them kicked out. They hunted her down and killed her and all the other people in the house where she was living.

[DJ MacWoW]

Authorities found a gun and $23,000 worth of Mitchell's jewelry in Valentine's car.

I think both women are a bit strange. Mitchell has $23,000 worth of jewelry, vacations in Greece and had no washer & dryer but the squatter did. Very strange indeed. Both of them.

[mhking]

Update from WXIA-TV/DT Atlanta:

A woman came home from a vacation in Greece to find a stranger playing house, changing utilities into her name and even repainting a room she didn't like.

Douglas County authorities say they can't explain why Beverly Valentine, 54, broke into an empty home and started acting like it was her own.

During the two-and-a-half weeks the owner was on vacation, Valentine allegedly redecorated the ranch home, ripping up carpet and taking down the owner's pictures and replacing them with her own.

The owner, Beverly Mitchell, was a complete unknown to Valentine, said Chief Sheriff's Deputy Stan Copeland. He said he had no idea how Valentine knew Mitchell was gone and how she thought she'd get away with moving into a stranger's home and acting as if it were her own.

"In 28 years, I've never seen something this strange," Copeland said.

The odd case came to light when Mitchell, who lived alone, returned home Oct. 4 to find the lights on and a strange Nissan parked in the driveway. Mitchell called police, who went in and found Valentine, who at first pretended she was renting the home. Later, Copeland said, she admitted she broke into the house with a shovel and was squatting there. She is charged with burglary.

Valentine appeared to think she could stay in the ranch permanently. She had the electricity switched over to her name and also moved in a washer and dryer and her small dog.

Copeland said she was even wearing some of Mitchell's clothes.

"There's a lot of people saying, 'What?"' Copeland said.

Authorities found a gun and $23,000 worth of Mitchell's jewelry in Valentine's car. Copeland said Valentine was asked what to do with the washer and dryer she moved in, and Valentine said she didn't care, so police will leave it up to Mitchell what to do with them.

Valentine is still being held in Douglas County Jail on a $25,000 bond, Copeland said. If convicted, she could face one to 20 years in prison.

[Ptarmigan]

Hehehehehehe. Too poor to afford a house in Beverly Hills.

[livius]

the lady originally said the police weren't too interested

One of my daughters is a police officer, and she said that if someone had called the police and told them that there was a stranger living in her house, the police would probably have thought the person making the report was the nut, rather than the person apparently legitimately installed there. What a Kafkian nightmare!

However, I have heard of this happening elsewhere, and the fact that she was charged with the crime of "home theft" indicates that there is some precedent for this bizarre situation. I guess the moral of the story is to leave a large slavering hound behind you whenever you go on vacation.

[mhking]

Oh, and here's the video report from WXIA-TV's 11P newscast.

[SALChamps03]

Remember Beverly Hills Cop II when Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) talked some contracters into leaving a home that was being redesigned, and then lived there while he was in town. Life often imitates art.

[livius]

I broke into a house once and cleaned their carpet.

Could you break into my house, PLEEZE?

[Jackknife]

I think this is the one...

[AnAmericanMother]

Lord alMIGHTy, that's one ugly woman.

Kinda gives trailer trash a bad name, don't she?