Friday, 8 March 2013

Mansion squatter arrested

Mansion squatter arrested, A Moorish American woman who tried to claim ownership of an East Memphis mansion this week was arrested on trespassing and burglary charges early Friday morning.

Shelby County sheriff’s deputies took Tabitha Gentry into custody at the vacant 9,000-square-foot home at 300 S. Shady Grove and booked her into the Women’s Jail East at 2:08 a.m. Two minor girls also were removed from the home......commercialappeal.

Gentry was charged with two counts each of criminal trespass, aggravated burglary and theft over $60,000.

She is being held on $2 million bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in General Sessions Criminal Court.

The 32-year-old woman also goes by the name Akba Re Bey and in hand-lettered signs posted on the property’s gate this week claimed membership to the Moorish American National Republic, a sovereign citizens-type group that generally does not recognize federal or state laws.

The mansion, with a market value of $3.2 million, has been vacant since Renasant Bank foreclosed on it two years ago.

Sheriff’s authorities said two girls also were in the home, including a 13-year-old girl who was turned over to the custody of her aunt. A protective custody order had been filed with Juvenile Court to have the girl removed from Gentry’s custody, officials said.

Another minor in the house was placed in the custody of the Department of Children Services.

Officers set up surveillance at the home and arrested Gentry when she left the residence.

Sheriff’s spokesman Chip Washington said the arrest occurred sometime after midnight and involved about 20 officers from SWAT teams from the sheriff’s department and from the Germantown Police Department as well as officers from the fugitive squad.

He said Gentry was “not happy” about being arrested and that she talked of her Moorish American rights to the home.

“She was rather animated,” Washington said.

He said the inside of the house, which had no furniture, was in relatively good shape and that squatters may have used sleeping bags and eaten boiled instant noodles.

The case remains under investigation, he said.

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