{"id":17485,"date":"2012-10-15T16:30:20","date_gmt":"2012-10-15T20:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=17485"},"modified":"2012-10-15T16:32:30","modified_gmt":"2012-10-15T20:32:30","slug":"pastor-filed-to-sue-before-moving-into-abandoned-houses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=17485","title":{"rendered":"Pastor Filed To Sue Before Moving Into Aban- doned Houses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s deputies arrested Tampa Pastor Tami Robinson<\/strong> and Samantha Gavin<\/strong> on October 7th<\/sup> for Adverse Possession of a home abandoned in foreclosure. Deputies said Robinson<\/strong> had filed a notice of adverse possession several weeks earlier, and Gavin<\/strong> was living in the home.<\/p>\n

Robinson <\/strong>had reportedly hand-served deputies a declaratory judgment lawsuit for related harassment at a different adverse possession home earlier. Both women were charged with burglary, and if convicted, they could serve prison sentences.<\/p>\n

Robinson<\/strong>, a mortgage broker, pastors the Well Pavilion Ministry Church in the 3400 block of Sanchez Street.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, it explains that the nature of the harassment as abuse of civil rights, and the legal basis of the adverse possessor\u2019s rights. The pleading recognized the nature of such harassment against which most victims have little or no defense, owing to the high cost of legal assistance. It asks the court to declare Robinson\u2019s<\/strong> rights with respect to adverse possession, and to enjoin the Sheriff and deputies to leave her alone, barring any court order or trespassing complaint from the actual owner.<\/p>\n

Pastor Robinson<\/strong> said she\u2019s never profited from adverse possession, but she knows people who have.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy reason for doing this is because I\u2019m a pastor, and I saw it as a benefit for misplaced families who could at least afford to pay off the liens.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy vision is also for women with children who\u2019ve been displaced to have a place to live. I think this can be very beneficial, and I don\u2019t understand how they can say we\u2019re misinterpreting the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastor Robinson<\/strong> said all you have to do is ride around and look for these homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are homes that basically have been deemed vacant or abandoned by Hillsborough County Code Enforcement. The properties hadn\u2019t been maintained, and these people move in, make repairs, clean things up, and pay the taxes. How can they be living for free?<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the case of Ms. Gavin<\/strong>, she is a member of my church, and needed a place to live. She was in the first home when deputies came ad gave hr 24 hours to leave. I came out, showed them that I had filed the paperwork, and I was told adverse possession was illegal and unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastor Robinson<\/strong> said she had contacted the actual owners of the property to let them know she was claiming them under adverse possession.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Property Appraiser\u2019s Office is also supposed to contact the owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as Ms. Gavin<\/strong> is concerned, there was another property I was working on for another family when she was displaced. I put that family on hold and allowed Ms. Gavin<\/strong> to move into that home. Now, she\u2019s been denied access to that house and all of her belongings. When the deputies found out she was the same person I had helped before, that\u2019s when we were arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastor Robinson<\/strong> said the lawsuit was filed prior to their arrests, and she doesn\u2019t have a scheme going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to help out a family, and this is what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as access to the homes is concerned, no one has to break into these houses. There was a sliding glass door open to Ms. Gavin\u2019s<\/strong> house, and that\u2019s how she gained access. The locks were changed after she moved in. All of the houses I\u2019ve seen have been vandalized, or the doors left unlocked or open.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Adverse Possession statute, Assistant State Attorney, Ada Carmona<\/strong>, said filing paperwork doesn\u2019t give anyone rights to the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat only shows that documents were filed through the clerk\u2019s office, but is not a legal process,\u201d said Carmona<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same thing applies to abandoned and foreclosed homes. In either case, the home is owned by either an individual or a lending institution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmona<\/strong> said in modern times when the law has been applied, it\u2019s been in cases where there was a lot of land connected to a sub-division.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way the adverse possession is being applied right now is outright theft,\u201d said Carmona<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t take over a house that\u2019s been abandoned or foreclosed under adverse possession. That\u2019s not what that law allows you to do. There is a huge misunderstanding of what this law says, and the problem is people are interpreting it to suit their own purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s deputies arrested Tampa Pastor Tami Robinson and Samantha Gavin on October 7th for Adverse Possession of a home abandoned in foreclosure. Deputies said Robinson had filed a notice of adverse possession several weeks earlier, and Gavin was living in the home. Robinson had reportedly hand-served deputies a declaratory judgment lawsuit for related […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}