A Nevada man beat squatters at their own game when officials told him they couldn’t help him evict them from his mother’s home.
Flash Shelton, executive director of the Las Vegas-based United Handyman Association, revealed in a YouTube video that the trouble began when his father died, and his mother was no longer able to live in their family home. They decided to put it up for rent.
A woman who identified herself as a prison guard reached out to Shelton about renting the Northern California house but said she couldn’t offer any money or credit.
Shelton turned her down, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“She ended up having a truck of furniture and literally moved into the house,” Shelton explained.
“I started hearing from realtors saying that there is this lady and people in the house and a house full of furniture.
“I then started getting reports from neighbors, who had noticed the lights on at night and cars parked in the driveway,” he continued.
He contacted the local police and sheriff’s department, but they said there was nothing they could do.
“They said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t enter the house and it looks like they’re living there. You need to go through the courts,” Shelton explained.
He knew this would be a lengthy and expensive process, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“All I needed to do at that point was the same thing they did, occupy the house.”
“If they can take a house, I can take a house.”
Shelton and his mother wrote up a lease agreement naming him as the legal tenant of the property.
Then he loaded up his car, packed a gun just in case, and made the 12-hour drive to the property.
He arrived at 4 AM and waited for the squatters to leave for the day. He entered the property when they were out.
When the squatter and her granddaughter returned, he confronted them telling them they needed to take their possessions and vacate the property ASAP.
The conversation remained polite, and the squatter even apologized for the inconvenience.
Shelton captured her on tape saying, “I’m really sorry about all this. It’s a nightmare and beyond.”
She took off with her family later that day.
“I think just the fact that I was there was enough. It was actually fun to do. I won’t lie about that. I was glad it was successful,” he reflected in the video.
However, he later posted a follow-up disclaimer video warning people, “Not everyone should walk through that door not knowing what you’re gonna find. It’s not always going to be peaceful like that.”