POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. — Homeowners in a Cobb County neighborhood are sharing exclusive video showing the moment they say police arrested a squatter accused of breaking into their dead neighbor’s home.
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A neighbor recorded video of the suspect in handcuffs.
Channel 2′s Michael Seiden was in Powder Springs Monday, where police are crediting neighbors for staying vigilant and reporting what they saw.
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About two weeks ago, neighbors said they saw a U-Haul truck pull into the driveway.
A neighbor’s iPhone video showed the tense moments when Cob County Police stormed the home and arrested George Kalb, 48.
Darryl Huffman lives on Goldenwood Court. He said his neighbor died last summer. The house went into foreclosure and since then, has remained vacant.
That is, until April 16. That’s when he said he saw Kalb pull up with the moving van.
“He had these papers and fumbling and going through these papers as though he wanted to show me,” Huffman said. “He was saying about potentially moving some stuff out because the previous owner had left some stuff in there.”
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Huffman said he became suspicious, and he wasn’t the only one who had a feeling Kalb was lying. Other neighbors started talking and immediately called police, but that didn’t stop Kalb from returning to the home.
“I think that’s pretty wild and bold!” Huffman said.
On Tuesday, Cobb County police questioned Kalb, but eventually left without making an arrest. Neighbors stayed in close contact with investigators and on Friday, police arrested Kalb on felony charges of first-degree burglary and theft by conversion.
The arrest comes just days after Governor Kemp signed a bill that cracks down on squatters.
Kemp signed the bill after months of Channel 2 Action News reports on squatters causing problems across the metro Atlanta area.
Channel 2 Action News has led the way in investigating the problem that has grown over the past year.
The new law is designed to close a loophole that Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray first exposed in his reporting.
In a series of Channel 2 Action News investigations over the past year, we’ve shown you how the squatters are doing it, posing as tenants and dragging out a months-long eviction process in civil court.
Lawmakers and policymakers even cited our stories as they drafted this legislation.
“Often when they go, they’re facing a gun. And that’s been covered in several Channel 2 stories,” one lawmaker said during hearings over the bill.
The new Georgia law changes that. Law enforcement will now cite suspected squatters criminally for trespassing and that starts a clock ticking.
“If they have no documentation, they’ll be out in three days,” said State Rep. Devan Seabaugh, who sponsored the bill.
Under the new law, if the suspected squatter presents a lease, the case goes before a magistrate judge within 7 days.
A fake lease adds an extra felony charge.
“These are criminals that know exactly what they’re doing and they’re taking advantage of the loophole that we had in our law. And we’ve corrected that,” one lawmaker siad said.
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