Assorted Stories On The Mortgage Foreclosure Free-For-All

The following assortment of stories related to foreclosure reflect what some refer to as a foreclosure free-for-all, an apparent three-ring circus of chaos, disorder and desperation related in some way to the foreclosure mess.

• Lehigh Acres, Florida: A widowed homeowner was served with not one but two foreclosure lawsuits from two different plaintiffs that both claimed to own her promissory note and mortgage and said she owed them each more than $276,000. See Foreclosure Mess: Two Different Plaintiffs Claim to Own Same Mortgage.

• Des Moines, Iowa: A real estate agent told Des Moines police on Tuesday that burglars broke into a vacant foreclosed house and took just about everything, including the kitchen sink. Among the stolen items were oak cabinets, a nearly new furnace, a water heater, a bathroom vanity, a bathroom sink and toilet and a medicine cabinet. The loss was estimated at more than $10,000. See Des Moines police: They took the kitchen sink and more.

• Portage Township, Indiana: Several juveniles -- most of them freshmen at Portage High School -- face charges after Porter County police said the youths entered a vacant home under foreclosure, had a party and caused $5,000 damage. Police said they found empty beer cases and several used condoms inside the home. They also found urine stains on the carpet in several rooms and damage to the drywall and doors in several rooms. See Police say juveniles drank in vacant home.

• Victorville, California: An abandoned drug house and transient hangout near an elementary school burned to the ground Wednesday afternoon, fire officials said. Witnesses in the area said that the home had been abandoned for quite some time and had been used as a hangout by teens, transients and drug users. See Vacant house used as drug hangout burns to ground.

• Wind Gap, Pennsylvania: A man who police say set his home on fire and then disappeared for two weeks is facing more charges. Nelson Tittle is now charged with arson and reckless endangerment. Investigators say Tittle's Wind Gap home was in foreclosure. The house burned down in May. See Man Charged with Torching Home Facing New Charges.

• Pasadena, California: A woman who wanted to end her life after losing her job was pulled to safety off the Colorado Street Bridge by police officers Tuesday morning, officials said. The woman told an officer she was depressed because she just lost her job, her house is in foreclosure and she thought she had nothing to live for. The Colorado Street Bridge is known as the "suicide bridge" after the dozens of people who have committed suicide off the bridge. See Police rescue suicidal woman standing on bridge.

• Lee County, Florida: A whopping $38 million in code violations is owed throughout Cape Coral and Fort Myers for things like lawns littered with trash. "The grass isn't mowed, the places are abandoned or vacant, and you have people breaking into them so you have a lot of broken glass," said Shane Hidle of Fort Myers Code Enforcement. The city blames the lag time in the foreclosure process. The owners are no longer responsible and the banks not yet responsible, so no one has been pegged to pay. See Two cities, $38 million in code violations.

• Freetown, Masdsachusetts: Former state Rep. Mark A. Howland lost his former home to the bank only weeks before the bank lost it to a fire deemed suspicious. Fire Chief Wayne A. Haskins said a meeting with state police investigators was set to decide whether the fire was a case of arson. The fast-moving fire, he said, is obviously suspicious because it was burning so strongly when firefighters arrived on the scene at around 12:30 a.m. "It was burning so good," he said. "When something is burning like that, it is usually suspicious; something isn't kosher. The roof was gone when we got there." See Foreclosed home of wind turbine dealer burns.

• Las Vegas, Nevada: Family members said the devastation of foreclosure drove one Valley couple to murder-suicide. Police discovered the bodies of Jeff Lingle, 38, and Teresa Mullis, 45, Monday in the desert near Interstate 215 and Losee Road. See Family Speaks About Murder-Suicide (Members Say Foreclosure Drove Couple To Edge).

• Scranton, Pennsylvania: A fire five months ago that destroyed a garage owned by a former Scranton firefighter was intentionally set, a state police fire marshal said Thursday. “The cause of the fire is arson,” state police Deputy Fire Marshal Russ Andress said of the June 17 fire, which razed a garage and damaged an adjoining apartment building at 1021 Mark Ave. Both are owned by Tom and Martha Gervasi. The Gervasis owed $51,000 on the building and were facing a mortgage foreclosure, according to a civil suit filed in Lackawanna County. See Garage fire ruled to be arson.

• Akron, Ohio: Job losses and foreclosures have escalated the vacancy problem nationwide, especially in urban communities like Akron and Barberton. Those properties not only are an annoyance from an aesthetic point of view, but they also are a magnet for criminals, dumping and vandalism. See Task force to fight urban blight (Job losses, foreclosures leave vacant homes throughout cities like Akron, damaging spirit and value of neighborhoods). ArsonForeclosureAlpha