Residents of a Cobb County neighborhood recently prevented a squatting incident in the house of a deceased neighbor by a show of community awareness. The dramatic events that transpired before the alleged squatter was arrested brought home how important it is to be vigilant in your area.
Goldenwood Court’s peace and quiet was broken about two weeks ago when neighbors saw a U-Haul truck coming into the driveway of a property that had been empty since the owner’s death last summer. Since then, the house had gone into foreclosure and was still empty.
Local Darryl Huffman related how he first saw the suspect, 48-year-old George Kalb. Huffman said Kalb looked to be going through paperwork, ostensibly to support moving things out of the house by saying the previous owner left them there. But Huffman and the other neighbours started to doubt Kalb’s motives.
Their misgivings were answered quickly. Video taken on an iPhone by a neighbor documents the tense moments when Cobb County Police showed up and took Kalb into custody. The neighbors’ worries and actions were only heightened when Kalb returned to the property after this altercation.
Community perseverance was rewarded. Law enforcement officers went back to the house after more monitoring and correspondence. They detained Kalb this time on grave allegations of theft by conversion and first-degree burglary.
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This event falls on the same day that Governor Kemp signed a new law intended to crack down on squatting, a rising problem in metro Atlanta. This new legislation was prompted by several reports and occurrences involving squatters. It was also inspired in part by community complaints about the difficulties in removing squatters from private property and by ongoing media coverage.