Five self-proclaimed ‘sovereign citizens’, including a dentist and a sex offender, have been charged after they moved into a widow’s $1.5 million home after she put it on the market, changed the locks and filed bogus legal documents to claim ownership.
The homeowner, who has asked not been named out of fears for her safety, had listed the property and moved out after her husband – a prominent commercial real estate broker – died last year, the Baltimore Sun reported.
But in June, squatters including an infant moved into the $1.5 million mansion on Falls Road in Baltimore.
Concerned neighbors called the owner after the squatters put up a chain across her driveway and signs warning trespassers to keep off the property.
Weeks of legal wrangling ensued, as the squatters refused to come out of the home when cops demanded they leave. Police even tried to get them to leave by deploying helicopters and armored vehicles to the property.
When they finally got a warrant to enter the home, police found a Mercedes parked in the garage.
Two of the squatters, Tessa Mona Modiri and Michael Lawrence, have now been arrested and hit with charges including burglary, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Sovereign citizens believe a decades-old conspiracy theory claiming the American government set up by the founding fathers was secretly replaced, and that laws and law enforcement are a sham that have no authority.
Five self-proclaimed sovereign citizens, including a dentist and sex offender, have been charged after they moved into a widow’s $1.5 million home
Cops have since arrested two of the squatters, and hit them with charges including burglary
The mansion’s listing described the home as a ‘Telluride style resort lodge nestled on a hilltop site with vistas into lush woodlands’
The 2.5-story home includes a great room with vaulted wood-beamed ceilings and a stone fireplace
The three other squatters have also been hit with charges but have not yet been arrested, according to the outlet. They were identified as Ayyannaabe Cox, Cesar Tellez Zuniga and Kia Dyer.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Baltimore Police Department and the Baltimore County Police Department for more information about the arrests.
The mansion’s listing described the home as a ‘Telluride style resort lodge nestled on a hilltop site with vistas into lush woodlands.’
The 2.5-story home includes a great room with vaulted wood-beamed ceilings and a stone fireplace. The home’s kitchen includes a deluxe butler’s pantry and an indoor pizza oven. The home also includes a wrap-around porch and a ‘magical treehouse’ as well as a guest suite and living space above 3.5 car garage.
The Baltimore Sun acquired a series of lawsuits filed between Modiri and the homeowner detailing the saga, as well as the charging documents for the squatters.
Modiri, 36, calls herself a ‘noncitizen national’ and court records list an address for her that’s shared with Renu Medspa – the website of which describes her as a dentist, the Baltimore Sun reported.
In June, Modiri filed a complaint against the homeowner claiming she hired a third-party real estate agency to short sell the property, which is legal in Maryland though the homeowner denies the allegations.
Modiri claims the home is hers because it was ‘clearly abandoned’ and alleges she entered it through a broken back door.
Maryland law lets trespassers legally own a property by occupying it for 20 years, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Cops said one of the squatters allegedly posed as a buyer’s agent to hire a home inspector and hired a contractor to install new security cameras.
The home also includes a wrap-around porch and a ‘magical treehouse’ as well as a guest suite and living space above 3.5 car garage
The home’s kitchen includes a deluxe butler’s pantry and an indoor pizza oven
The homeowner, who has asked not been named out of fears for her safety, had listed the property and moved out
The 2.5-story home includes a great room with vaulted wood-beamed ceilings and a stone fireplace
The squatters put up a chain across her driveway and signs warning trespassers to keep off the property while parking a Mercedes-Benz in the garage
Cops were finally granted a warrant when they identified one of the squatters, Warren, as a convicted felon during a traffic stop on June 23 when he left the property.
Warren was previously convicted for a number of sex crimes and for impersonating a lawyer, the Baltimore Sun reported.
He was arrested when cops searched the home and found a loaded handgun and ammunition in a safe. He has been hit with burglary and weapons charges and is being held without bail in the Baltimore County Detention Center.
Court records show Modiri has also filed a lawsuit trying to claim ownership of a foreclosed commercial property in Harford County.
Cops said one of the squatters allegedly posed as a buyer’s agent to hire a home inspector and hired a contractor to install new security cameras
The squatters refused to come outside when cops went to the home and demanded they leave the mansion
Cops were finally granted a warrant when they identified one of the squatters, Warren, as a convicted felon