Homeowner Forced Into Hospital, Returns Home To Find Adverse Possession-Claiming Family On Premises; Judge Orders Suspect To Go To Trial

In Castle Rock, Colorado, CBS 4 reports:

• A Douglas County judge has ordered a man who had been living in a million dollar home to stand trial on charges including trespassing and perjury. CBS4’s On Your Side Investigator Rick Sallinger has linked this case to at least a dozen other “stolen homes” across the area. The homes involved were under foreclosure and taken over by people who claim they have a legal right to do so under a law called “Adverse Possession.”
  
  
• Sergio Hernandez was in court for a preliminary hearing after he was evicted from a million dollar mansion in the Bell Mountain Ranch subdivision near Castle Rock on March 22nd. Hernandez is charged with trespassing, perjury, offering false instrument and violation of a bail bond.
  
  
• In March, Hernandez and his family members were forced to leave the four bedroom, five bathroom home at 1252 Rosewind Circle. All their possessions were hauled to the curb by bank hired movers. The true owner of the furniture inside the home remains the subject of debate.
  
  
• The home was originally owned by Joyce Carroll, who tells us her furniture was still inside when Hernandez moved in. She went into the hospital, was unable to make payments, and Bank of America started foreclosure proceedings. When she was able to leave the hospital, she found strangers living inside a home she never fully moved out of.
  
  
• That’s when Sergio Hernandez provided a document of “Adverse Possession”, which he claims gives him a legal right to live in the house.

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• Last Friday, Hernandez arrived in a U-Haul van to help move a family out of a $750,000 home in Larkspur. The home was occupied by a man named Gonzolo Perez, who is believed to be related to Hernandez.
  
  
• In a similar fashion, Douglas County deputies were accompanied by a locksmith, who picked the lock to the home [...]. The bank-hired real estate agent helped haul Mr. Perez’s possessions to the curb. Hernandez refused to talk with us about his connection to this home.
  
  
• But back in court, Detective Trindle made the link. He said he learned about Hernandez and the home in Castle Rock after investigating the house in Larkspur. Sergio Hernandez is due back in court on August 13th. Gonzolo Perez also has future court appearances scheduled.

For the story, see Stolen Homes Case Heads To Trial.