Vacant Home Hijacker Dodges Hard Time; Scraps "Adverse Possession" Defense, Cops Misdemeanor Trespassing Plea After Spending 13 Months In County Jail

In West Palm Beach, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• A Palm Beach County man who rented out homes he did not own will not spend any time in prison. Prosecutors dropped felony burglary and theft charges against Carl Heflin in return for him pleading guilty to trespassing, a misdemeanor. Heflin, 52, was released last week from the Palm Beach County Jail, where he had been since his arrest in June 2009.

• Heflin, of West Palm Beach, tried to take over more than two dozen homes through adverse possession, a centuries-old concept that allowed people to lay claim to abandoned farmland and cottages if they lived there and paid the taxes for a period of years. In recent times, authorities say, the legal doctrine has been misused by squatters and swindlers claiming ownership of vacant and foreclosed homes.

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• In Heflin's case, prosecutors agreed to a plea deal because he had already spent 13 months in jail and "the victims/owners of the foreclosed properties were either unavailable or unwilling to appear for trial,'' Angela Miller, chief of white collar crimes for the State Attorney's Office, said in an email. "The resolution was appropriate under the circumstances.''

• Heflin filed adverse possession notices with the Palm Beach Property Appraiser and even submitted deeds declaring ownership of 27 properties, records show. Heflin went into several of the homes, changed the locks, opened utility accounts and rented them to tenants.(1)

For the story, see Palm Beach County man spared prison time for renting out homes he did not own.

(1) Reportedly, the owner of one of the homes, Edward Pamplona, told the Sun Sentinel last month that his house was in foreclosure in December 2008, when he returned from a weekend away to find his front door had been removed. Pamplona said Heflin told him he had bought the house. Pamplona said he was skeptical since he had not been notified of any sale but took Heflin's word and temporarily lived in his car before moving in with a relative. The house had not been sold and is still in Pamplona's name, records show.