With "serial squatters" on the rise, a Tarrant County constable vows to send them to jail
NORTH TEXAS – It's early morning when Tarrant County deputy constables prepare to strike.
Their target on this day is Shawndria Allen Graves.
"She's a known squatter in our area. This will be the third house in 2024 that we've had evictions on her for," said Detective Scott Powell.
This time, though, deputies aren't evicting her. They're arresting her.
It's a new approach Tarrant County Precinct 7 is taking, treating suspected squatters not like tenants who are unable to pay rent, but like criminals who never intended to.
Powell first started looking into Graves last October when, he said, the precinct judge asked if he could figure out who she was.
"I think he said this was her 7th time to be in front of him," said Powell.
Each time, she seemed to have a new name.
"We have a Carrol Marantette that's filed paperwork, a Tia Johnson that's filed paperwork, Maria Johnson that's filed paperwork," said Powell.
It's a common tactic, he said, with serial squatters who move from house to house.
"I have yet to see a squatter case that didn't involve some form of identity theft," he said.
In January, Powell helped evict Graves from a home in Arlington.
In March, he was working another case a mile away and noticed the car out front.
"I run the license plates. It's the same people!" he said.
One month after that, he found her right back in the same house where she started.
"This is her second time at this address. There's no way you're going to get me to believe that after evicting her the first time, somebody turned around and leased it back to her," said Precinct 7 Constable Sandra Lee.
This year alone, the precinct covering southeast Tarrant County has handled 40 "John Doe" evictions. Those are cases where a home's owner doesn't know who is living in their house.
"A lot of the reason it's exploded is they've realized they can do this," said Powell. "These squatters are rarely getting prosecuted.'
Powell said he's even found crime rings providing squatters with the intel and fake documents needed to get into a home and stretch out the eviction process.
"They'll give you the place with the keys and the fake lease and show you exactly how to appeal it. And so, you can move into these, you can 'move in,' squat in these homes for $600 and they'll show you how to lock yourself in for three or four months rent-free," he said.
Precinct 7, though, is ready to crack down, vowing to find and file whatever criminal charges may apply.
"If you illegally squat in Precinct 7, you will go to jail," Powell said.
Graves has no previous convictions for squatting-related crimes, but now has five charges against her, including theft, identity theft, tampering with government documents, and criminal trespass.