Arizona Couple Faces Criminal Charges For Allegedly Using Forged Deed To Hijack Title & Move Into Vacant $900K Foreclosed Home; Pair May Be Part Of Sovereign Citizen Movement, Say Cops

In Prescott, Arizona, The Daily Courier reports:

• A man and woman who were living in a $900,000 home that had been foreclosed by the bank claimed they had a legal right to occupy it, but were arrested [], for burglary, theft and criminal theft, a Prescott Police spokeswoman said.
  
  Randall Skates, 37, and Jennifer Skates, 45, were found squatting in the house in the 2100 block of Chickadee Lane, Lt. Amy Bonney said.
  
  “The investigation revealed that the Skates’ ascribe to a set of beliefs often described as the ‘Sovereign Citizen Movement.’ In this case, the Skates’ learned that the home was bank owned and unoccupied. They entered the home, claiming it as their own under their beliefs that banks are not people and therefore have no actual right to real property,” Bonney said.
  
  The couple filed a deed for the property, which, Bonney said, gave them no actual legal claim to the house, and put up signs in the windows “indicating their right to be at the home and their willingness to defend the property.”
  
  Witnesses told police they had seen men they thought were armed, patrolling the property.
  
  Bonney said the couple advertised rooms for rent, and at least one person, an 18-year-old woman with a four-month old child, was found there. Police believe she didn’t know the Skates’ had occupied the home illegally, Bonney said.
  
  Randall and Jennifer Skates were booked into the Camp Verde jail.

Source: Squatters found living in $900,000 foreclosed home arrested.