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By Kevin Rincon


Jacksonville, FL —
Imagine going through the entire process of buying a home and just days before your set to move in you hear, “You’re trespassing, I’ll shoot.”

That’s what a family in Clay County is dealing with after buying a $440,000 home. They found Pastor Marcellous Dunbar inside with furniture moved in and wasn’t alone. He says the property is his through adverse possession, a very controversial Florida Statute.

A local real estate attorney Tommy Shea says adverse possession happens one of two ways, you can physically take possession of the property or you can create what would almost resemble a fabricated deed. Shea says one of the things that stops this from going any further is if that person doesn’t pay for taxes and they have to be there for seven years.

The Realtor told our news partner Channel 4 that the family closed on the home a week ago and when she went to check up on the home the screws on the locks had been removed and the pastor had moved in.

The homeowners did not want to be identified; they told Channel 4 it’s a cause for concern, “I purchased the property legally and on the same day I’ve got an individual that went in and filed for occupancy of the home.”

The Realtor did say this was a family that bought the home, they’re currently with the military and have four children.

Clay County deputies are investigating.

The pastor says he’s doing everything according to state law. He says he’s working on reducing Jacksonville’s homelessness and that’s why he took the home and has other people living in there with him. He says he’s doing it for a good cause.