Serpo
8th July 2011, 01:47 AM
Brooksville, Florida -- Imagine coming back to your home after being away a few weeks and finding the locks changed and the home trashed. That's what happened to Chris Boudreau of Brooksville.
Boudreau showed us the home, which was stripped bare.
Walking through the living room, he tells us "I used to have a couch, a sofa, a couple of end tables, a TV, DVD player, tapes and cabinet... but they are now gone."
Photos: Man's home trashed by mortgage company
It happened after 21 Mortgage Corporation in Knoxville, which is Boudreau's lender, hired a local company to do the job. The mortgage company spokesperson refused to talk to us, but we talked to Boudreau's attorney, Tom Altman.
According to Altman, the woman from the mortgage company told him Florida is a "self help state," and that's why they are allowed to do this. However, Altman explained he was holding the mortgage and Florida is not a self help state. He says he told the woman Florida has strict mortgage foreclosure laws and they were being violated by the company.
But the Hernando Sheriff's Office apparently has no interest in enforcing those laws... or burglary, breaking and entering and trespassing, either. They say it is a civil matter, even though everything from the house was taken or thrown in the dumpster. The wedding dress belonging to Boudreau's wife was even cut to shreds.
"When she saw what happened, she actually went into in the dumpster trying to go through the stuff," Boudreau says. "She was crying her eyes out."
Boudreau's attorney says the Hernando Sheriff's Office is flat wrong.
"Although Boudreau had fallen behind a bit in his mortgage, there were no foreclosure proceedings in effect," Altman says. "That means the people who trashed bordures home and took his possessions should be arrested and prosecuted like common criminals."
Boudreau says he just wants to get his stuff back. However, that seems unlikely and it appears Boudreau will have to sue to be compensated for his losses.
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/199268/8/Man-falls-behind-on-payments-mortgage-company-has-home-trashed
Boudreau showed us the home, which was stripped bare.
Walking through the living room, he tells us "I used to have a couch, a sofa, a couple of end tables, a TV, DVD player, tapes and cabinet... but they are now gone."
Photos: Man's home trashed by mortgage company
It happened after 21 Mortgage Corporation in Knoxville, which is Boudreau's lender, hired a local company to do the job. The mortgage company spokesperson refused to talk to us, but we talked to Boudreau's attorney, Tom Altman.
According to Altman, the woman from the mortgage company told him Florida is a "self help state," and that's why they are allowed to do this. However, Altman explained he was holding the mortgage and Florida is not a self help state. He says he told the woman Florida has strict mortgage foreclosure laws and they were being violated by the company.
But the Hernando Sheriff's Office apparently has no interest in enforcing those laws... or burglary, breaking and entering and trespassing, either. They say it is a civil matter, even though everything from the house was taken or thrown in the dumpster. The wedding dress belonging to Boudreau's wife was even cut to shreds.
"When she saw what happened, she actually went into in the dumpster trying to go through the stuff," Boudreau says. "She was crying her eyes out."
Boudreau's attorney says the Hernando Sheriff's Office is flat wrong.
"Although Boudreau had fallen behind a bit in his mortgage, there were no foreclosure proceedings in effect," Altman says. "That means the people who trashed bordures home and took his possessions should be arrested and prosecuted like common criminals."
Boudreau says he just wants to get his stuff back. However, that seems unlikely and it appears Boudreau will have to sue to be compensated for his losses.
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/199268/8/Man-falls-behind-on-payments-mortgage-company-has-home-trashed