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SQUATTERS: Neighborhood HOA fighting back

Posted at 7:25 PM, Jan 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-23 23:59:47-05
The Sun Country Homeowners Association is taking the neighborhood back from squatters.
 
"They're pretty daring the way they were going from house to house," said HOA President Carol Iliano. "Who wants to live next door to a squatter house?"
 
Iliano said they hired Dave Schefris and Pure IT Solutions back in September. He has gotten rid of about half a dozen squatters since at the neighborhood near Tropicana Avenue and Boulder Highway.
 
"I think it's just the persistence and the diligence, and we get involved with the community," said Schefris, who has made it his mission to rid Sun Country of squatters.
 
Schefris goes on foot through the neighborhood, like he did with us, looking for signs of squatters. The things he has seen are shocking, and he shared the pictures with 13 Action News to prove it.
 
One of his keys to getting rid of squatters is working directly with the people in the neighborhood, gaining their trust so they tell him what's going on.
 
"There's a lady, I had to pinky swear her daughter that nobody was going to be coming over to her house," said Schefris.
 
When he can't be there, he still keeps an eye on things. They have 24 motion-sensor cameras around the neighborhood that capture whatever's happening.
 
"Usually under every camera there's a sign saying, 'you're being watched,' and it's a deterrent," Schefris said.
 
The footage the cameras captured even helped him catch a group breaking into cars.
 
"The homeless is a small community, they all talk, they know, don't come around here, we'll get you," Iliano said.