A GRANDMOTHER who bizarrely obtained an eviction discover for the house she purchased has realized the reality about her so-called landlord.

Sheila Gibson, 69, now is aware of a legislation loophole led to her pulling as much as her Georgia house and discovering a word warning her she was about to be on the streets.

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Gibson had lived in her property in Sandy Springs, about 25 minutes outdoors Atlanta, for years when she bought the discover from the Fulton County Marshal’s Division in December 2022.

She was speechless on the warning, as her household had purchased the house for $480,000 in 2020, so she by no means owed lease to anybody.

But, somebody had gone to the Fulton County Clerk’s Workplace and filed paperwork claiming she was a tenant who hadn’t paid up.

“I don’t perceive how the entire thing can occur,” Gibson advised CBS affiliate WANF in Might 2024.

“It upsets me simply to speak about it; I really feel so violated.”

The home-owner additionally uncovered courtroom paperwork revealing that deputies had already tried to evict her as soon as in October 2022.

“Had it not been for that gate, we might have come house, and all our possessions would have been on the road,” Gibson stated.

After investigating the unusual scenario, prosecutors consider that they’ve a solution to what occurred.

Michael James Bourff has been arrested and accused of posing because the “agent” of Gibson’s house who filed the eviction paperwork.

Within the docs, Bourff allegedly wrote the unaware woman owed $12,000 in overdue lease.

The scammer claimed that Gibson had failed to reply to the preliminary eviction discover, however he by no means despatched a warning within the first place.

Gibson’s nightmare has lifted the lid on a legislation loophole that is allowed some dangerous actors to reap the benefits of hardworking householders.

It seems that Georgia legislation doesn’t require clerks to confirm IDs when submitting deeds, making it simpler for fraudsters to take advantage of the system.

Which means anybody can file eviction paperwork with out proving they personal the house in query.

A number of property homeowners within the Atlanta space alone have been victimized by net scams that just about left them homeless.

Others have been compelled to pay “lease” to pretend landlords.

“That is loopy, somebody can simply stroll into an workplace, present no ID, and nobody bothers to test in the event that they even personal the house,” Gibson stated.

Bourff has been arrested and charged with perjury, forgery, and submitting a false doc.

Authorities first picked him up in a separate county for DUI fees, then transferred him to Fulton County Jail, the place he later bonded out on January 1, 2025.