I am not the Original Poster. Originally posted by u/oliviaelleparker in 2015 in r/legaladvice

​

Strange girl claims she's house sitting for a tenant, not sure what to do (New Jersey) (7 Aug 2015)

My husband & I are private landlords. One of our tenants, we'll call him James, left for a trip at the beginning of the summer and asked us to keep an eye on the house while he's gone. I drive passed 2-3 times a day and stop in every couple days to get mail, water his plants and check on things. I have his original house key to get in, but I also know where he keeps a spare key.

Today my husband went over to mow and water the lawn. He used the key to enter so he could play XBox while the sprinkler went (with James's permission) and discovered another person in the house. He went back out and called me to ask if James had anyone staying there, I said no and came over to meet him. This time we knocked and the woman answered the door. I asked who she was, she said she was James's girlfriend and she was house sitting for the summer.

We were immediately suspicious because we have been house sitting for 2 months and never seen this woman, even though I enter the house 2-3 times a week at least, and I've never seen anything indicating someone was living here. Also, James is backpacking out of the country with his boyfriend... While that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have a girlfriend, we know for a fact he's gay and in a committed relationship, so that makes this whole thing even more suspicious.

She claimed James gave her a key. On our way out, hubby checked where James hides his spare key and it's missing when it was there on Wednesday, because I used it when I forgot the regular key. She has no proof she even knows James, we asked her if she had any photos or texts on her phone from James proving their relationship and she claimed she doesn't have a cell phone, but a pink studded iPhone was sitting on the coffee table (and wasn't there on Wednesday).

We can't get ahold of James to ask him what's up, it will be another 2 weeks before he calls to check in and he doesn't have reliable service. I left a message with his mom in case he calls her, and she said James has never mentioned a girlfriend to her, he's never had a girlfriend in his life and she's never heard of this girl. She thinks it could be an acquaintance looking for a free place to crash. She offered to sign anything (she has power of attorney for James) to get her out if necessary, but she lives 3 hours away.

On one hand, it's not our business who James is seeing or invites to the house. On the other, we have a really bad feeling this girl is here illegally and looking for a free place to live, possibly even trying to steal stuff from the house. Right now the next door neighbors son is outside discreetly watching the house to report if she tries to steal furniture or anything, but so far all she's done is gone swimming and sun bathed in the backyard.

What should we do? Hubby wants to call the police and make her prove she has permission, but I'm worried we might be overstepping as landlords. But I also don't want to do nothing and see James get robbed. She claims she's been there for weeks and she might try to say she's a tenant, too. What's the best way to handle this?

Edit: the neighbors son watching the house, he just texted " Ms. Parker, I have a really bad feeling she's a stalker. James told my mom that if a girl who looked like her came around to tell him bc she's a troublemaker. And mom said she thinks she might be a stalker and to call police if we saw her./"

So apparently James might have a stalker and this woman fits the description of the woman they were told to watch out for.

Edit - Update: (editors note: update made same day, about 5 hours later)

We have no idea what is going on. We met the police at the next door neighbors house and explained the situation. They asked us a lot of questions about James, what we knew about the woman, pretty much normal questions. Then the questions got unceasingly weird, like, did the woman seem agitated or defensive, did she appear to be pregnant, did you see or hear an infant in the house, did you see any baby items laying around, did you notice anything unusual about her hair, did she have any visible birth marks or deformities, did she speak with an unusual accent, things that made no sense at all considering we thought this was a possible robbery. What is the purpose of these questions?

The officers asked us to look at some photos and could we identify the woman, during this time other police officers arrived, there were 7-8 officers at this point, and 3 went over next door to talk to the woman while we stayed at the neighbors house. She answered the door right away, we couldn't make out what they were saying, but she seemed totally relaxed and happy, not upset or scared. They talked for maybe 15-20 minutes, then she stepped out on the porch and the officers arrested her pretty aggressively.

They asked for permission to go through the house, which his mother gave by phone, and asked my husband to list any closets, storage or crawl spaces. They came back twice asking if there was an attic or a basement, and if we had done any recent work on the walls (we had) but they never explained why, or what they were looking for. They also located her blue Ford Fuzion parked 3 houses down across the street, which they towed.

They did recover the spare key on her person, but they instructed us to replace all of the locks on that key tonight, so we're getting ready to go to Home Depot right now while the neighbor's husband stays in the house. We're also going to look for security cameras. We did mention the possible stalking, but they didn't seem remotely interested in what the neighbor had to say about it.

So we have no idea who this woman is, why she was really there, what the police were looking for, what the hell just happened, or what's going to happen next. One officer gave us a business card with his badge number and cell phone number, and wrote down s matter number on the back, so he said to expect a phone call in the next few days if they have any more questions. But they were very hush hush about what was going on and the only thing they would tell us is, it's an ongoing investigation and they can't release any information at this time. They won't even tell us if they think James or his boyfriend are involved. I am freaking the hell out right now.

We tried contacting James and his boyfriend for the last few hours with no success. I left him a voicemail to call me back as soon as possible, but I didn't want to break the news by voicemail. Hopefully he calls me back soon.

What happens next? What can we expect now? What happens if James was involved in this? I really don't think he is, but I don't know what to think right now. Tonight has been one big blur and I don't know what we should be doing right now.

​

Reminder: I am not the Original Poster. Originally posted by u/oliviaelleparker in 2015 in r/legaladvice