Crime & Safety

Atlanta Police Arrest Boulevard Heights House Squatters

Squatters allegedly told the property owner they took possession of her house and that they now owned it.

There's no place like home — unless the home in question isn't even yours.

The Atlanta Police Department said Friday they arrested a man who claimed he owned three homes in Boulevard Heights on fraud charges.

The victim, who represents a company that owns nine houses, including the three in question at 1051 Walker Ave., 1055 Walker Ave. and 1040 Lester Ave., told police people without authorization were living in them.

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Keylen Joseph DeSantos, 22, is charged with burglary, filing false statements and forgery. He was released March 8 from the Fulton County Jail after posting bond of $12,000.

Ayahme K. Ford, 38, faces the same charges and remains in the Fulton County Jail.

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Police gave the following account:

When the victim learned people were living in the home at 1055 Walker Ave., DeSantos and Ford told her they assumed ownership of the house through "adverse possession" filings with the Fulton County Superior Court Clerk's Office.

The alleged con artists told her they owned the homes, ordered her to leave and changed the locks.

Subsequently, on March 6, investigators from the Atlanta Police Department's Major Fraud Unit, the APD Zone 6 code enforcement officer and the victim met at 1055 Walker.

DeSantos reiterated to investigators what he told the victim, insisting he was the legal owner of the property and that the law allowed him to 'assume' the houses.

Police subsequently arrested him.

Ford, who wasn't at the home at the time, turned herself in to police March 7.


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