Foreclosure Stripping Not Yet On Radar Screen For SW Florida Law Enforcements Authorities

In Naples, Florida, the Naples Daily News reports:

• Foreclosure stripping is a crime, and it has a victim. It’s you. Neighborhoods are losing more than just neighbors. Homeowners in foreclosure are ripping out bathtubs, wiring, countertops, sinks, windows, garage doors and even the palm trees from the front yard and selling them for cash.

• As a result, property values are falling and the tax collections associated with them are stripped, as well. Government services depending on those taxes are thrown onto the chopping block. The victims are everywhere. Law enforcement hasn’t made any arrests.(1) Banks and mortgage companies haven’t brought anyone to court. It’s a free-for-all, and it’s happening right now.

For more, see For sale: Anything and everything inside foreclosed homes (A new trend called foreclosure stripping is against the law, but authorities and banks aren’t stopping it).

For examples of foreclosure stripping ads on Craigslist.com:

• example #1,
• example #2,
• example #3,
• example #4.

Go here for other posts on foreclosure stripping.

(1) Reportedly, Lee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Larry King said the situation is not as clear as some make it out to be. It’s not always illegal, King said, and suggested new laws may be needed. “The gray area is it’s not officially the bank’s until it’s actually turned over to the bank,” King said. “So what the homeowner does is at their discretion, or something is in place mortgage-wise or statutorily.” In Collier County, Chief Jim Williams, the Sheriff’s Office head of investigations, expressed concern over taking resources away from other investigations, such as those into online child predator schemes, to concentrate on an as-of-yet unexplored area of the law. foreclosure fixture stripping apple