Vacant Foreclosed Home Hijacker Scraps "Adverse Possession" Defense; Cops Plea To Organized Fraud, Dodges Jail Time, Gets Two Years Probation

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Broward-Palm Beach New Times reports:

• The State Attorney's Office has wrapped up its case against Mark Guerette, the guy written about in the New York Times and here on the Juice for his work leasing empty, foreclosed homes to families in need by way of an antiquated squatter's-rights law.

• Guerette found around 100 foreclosed homes that had been neglected in Broward County, particularly North Lauderdale, and informed the banks that he intended to move in and start renting them out. He used "adverse possession," an old clause in the Florida Statutes that grants someone ownership of a neglected property if he takes care of it for seven years.

• After multiple meetings with detectives and Broward prosecutors in which Guerette and his lawyer say they cooperated fully, he pleaded "no contest" to charges of organized fraud in the second degree. He was then adjudicated guilty without a trial and given two years' probation. Guerette says he wanted to avoid a trial because he needs to deal with his own foreclosure and take care of his two children. [...] As part of his plea deal, Guerette agreed not to file any more claims of adverse possession for two years.

For more, see Fraud Case Ends With Probation for Rogue Foreclosure Landlord Mark Guerette.