Nevada County Squatter Was Allegedly Renting Space To Other Squatters, Deputies Say
NEVADA COUNTY (CBS13) — A woman was allegedly squatting in a Nevada City home and pretending to be the property landlord.
The Nevada County Sheriff's Office says, Sunday morning, deputies responded to the home along the 16000 block of Cooper Road to investigate a possible squatting case. Apparently, the property owner's daughter had checked on the home recently and noticed several unknown vehicles parked outside.
Deputies were able to talk to several people at the property, including two people who claimed they were renting space from a woman named Amanda Carlson. As investigators soon discovered, Carlson had herself been squatting at the home since last November. In that time, deputies say several items had been stolen and more than $1,000 in damage was done to the property. Carlson was eventually arrested and is now facing several charges.
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The sheriff's office said Carlson was charging her own family member $800 a month to live in the property's back house. They say she also used the property's power supply and even put the waste management services in her own name.
Lisa Marlowe's mother owns the Nevada City property that she says is full of childhood memories now trashed by uninvited guests.
"Mixed in with all this garbage were laying black and white pictures of all my relatives. Pictures of me when I was a baby. Pictures of me and my mom. The property is going to cost thousands of dollars to clean up," Marlowe said.
On Sunday, Marlowe drove up from San Fransisco to confront Carlson face-to-face.
"Seeing what she looked like and how she sounded, you would notice right away this is someone strung out on methamphetamine. If you walk around the property it was a drug haven," Marlowe said.
She said she's concerned the tenants who were renting from Carlson won't legally have to leave.
"The police say that because they were paying her rent and thought she was the lawful owner, they actually couldn't be forcibly removed. In addition to being devastated and violated, we're also pissed and like this can't just happen without any consequences," Marlowe said.
The house was left empty for several months, partially because of Marlowe's mother's age. She says her 91-year-old mother lives on the east coast and due to the pandemic, she could not safely get on a plane to check on the property.