Fla. Pastor Arrested for Claiming Family's $440K Home in Name of Ending Homelessness
A Florida pastor has been arrested for allegedly breaking into and "squatting" in a $440,000 home he claimed ownership of just days before the family that purchased the home was scheduled to move in.
Marcelous Dunbar, pastor of Fishers of Men World Harvest Church in Jacksonville, Fla., felt so at home in the Clay County mini-mansion that he moved in all of his furniture and hung a picture of himself near the door, WJXT-TV reported Sept. 22.
Dunbar, who moved into the home along with several other people, was so protective of "his" property that he told a reporter trying to interview him before his arrest, "You're trespassing. I'll shoot."
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When the reporter had instead opted to call him by phone, Dunbar said that he had taken ownership of the property through adverse possession, a common law concept in regard to real estate, and that he was doing so in order to reduce homelessness in the area.
"We're going to use their property for good means," Dunbar said. "We're going to clean up the homelessness in Jacksonville."
In Florida, according to Tommy Shea, a real estate attorney interviewed by WOKV.com, adverse possession can take place when a person has been "squatting" on a property for seven years.
However, Dunbar had only been in the home for a few days.
As for the family who actually purchased the home, the homeowner was surprised by the pastor's actions.
"I purchased the property legally, and on the same day I've got an individual that went in and filed for occupancy of the home," said the homeowner, who did not want to be identified.
Nevertheless, the pastor insisted he was doing everything according to state law and was simply seeking to reduce homelessness.
Dunbar was arrested Sept. 23 on felony charges of grand theft and burglary. His bail was set at $150,000.
