My mother owned a zoned live/work building for 10 years. It remained unleased for the entirety of her ownership, and was registered with the tax assessors office as a storage/warehouse space. There were no utilities turned on for the property, as it was not my mother's intention to rent it.
In 2009, a man (whom I believe has mental disabilities) broke in and started living in the building. He told the neighbors that he had purchased the building and was "fixing it up". His method of fixing it was to fill the empty lot next door (which my mother also owned) with various and sundry rubbish, defecate in a paint bucket, cut the grass with scissors, and wash the outside of the building with bleach every couple of days. He also harassed people who lived in the neighborhood by screaming and cursing at them. This lasted a couple of months before my mother had the sheriff remove the man and cite him for trespassing. I have a copy of the citation.
Over the next 4 years, he would periodically return to the building, break in, and resume the same activities. Each time, the police would remove him, cite him for criminal trespass, and let him out jail after a couple of days. Eventually, the building fell into disrepair, primarily because of the things he was doing, e.g., picking up the wood that made up the second floor and sorting the pieces by size. (Yes, I know this doesn't make sense since he was minimizing his living space.) After his most recent removal and due to the state of disrepair, the City started to come after my mother to force her to rehabilitate the building. As she is on disability and was ill-equipped to deal with a protracted legal battle, I was forced to quitclaim the property.
In the 6 weeks since, I have discovered that the man has a criminal conviction for assault with a deadly weapon in Fulton County, which is NOT the county in the building is located. Two weeks ago, the man attempted to have a $5,000 portable office delivered to the empty lot, but was thwarted when one of the neighbors called to let me know. I believe that the man will attempt to retaliate by breaking into the building again. This is a major concern for me because I intend to start cleaning out the building so that I can have it appraised and begin some of the major repairs. I don't have the money to hire a crew, so it will be just me doing the cleaning. I don't want the man to come back to the building and get violent toward me. I actually am in fear for my life.
Over the past 10 days, I have filed an incident report with the police and tracked the man to the motel in which he is staying. The police were very dismissive and only took the report because I demanded it as the owner of the building. While I was speaking to the higher ranking officer, the other officer called the man at the number I provided and spoke with him. The man said that he had proof of ownership, which is something he has stated in the past, but has never provided to authorities when asked. The police said this was a civil matter and that there wasn't anything they could do because they didn't want to get sued. Ironically, these same officers know the man well due to his regular removals from the building and complaints from various neighbors and had seen him across town earlier in the week riding a lawn mower in the Home Depot parking lot.
I have attempted to file a Temporary Protective Order with the Superior Court, but have been unable to get help doing so from pro bono organizations because the issue is not domestic in nature. I was sent to four different city government departments and what turned out to be the local domestic violence crisis line, only to be told by each one that they didn't handle these issues. I finally found the Petition for Stalking Temporary Protective Order and the Stalking Ex Parte Temporary Protective Order paperwork, which are the documents all of the online resources said I should fill out since this is not a domestic issue. When I took them to the Superior Court Clerk's Office this morning so that I could get on today's TPO docket, I was told by the Clerk herself, that the document I actually needed to fill out was a simple Temporary Protective Order. However, when I finally found this form online, the only options for "relationship to respondent" were familial ones.
I am ready to pull my hair out. What can I do to get a TPO if I can't even get in front of a judge? The employees at the Clerk's office are distinctly unhelpful and the office does not have the forms to give out. I don't have the money to hire an attorney to do this paperwork and I'm not afraid of going through the process pro se. I just need a little guidance.
Thanks for reading this. Sorry about the length.
In 2009, a man (whom I believe has mental disabilities) broke in and started living in the building. He told the neighbors that he had purchased the building and was "fixing it up". His method of fixing it was to fill the empty lot next door (which my mother also owned) with various and sundry rubbish, defecate in a paint bucket, cut the grass with scissors, and wash the outside of the building with bleach every couple of days. He also harassed people who lived in the neighborhood by screaming and cursing at them. This lasted a couple of months before my mother had the sheriff remove the man and cite him for trespassing. I have a copy of the citation.
Over the next 4 years, he would periodically return to the building, break in, and resume the same activities. Each time, the police would remove him, cite him for criminal trespass, and let him out jail after a couple of days. Eventually, the building fell into disrepair, primarily because of the things he was doing, e.g., picking up the wood that made up the second floor and sorting the pieces by size. (Yes, I know this doesn't make sense since he was minimizing his living space.) After his most recent removal and due to the state of disrepair, the City started to come after my mother to force her to rehabilitate the building. As she is on disability and was ill-equipped to deal with a protracted legal battle, I was forced to quitclaim the property.
In the 6 weeks since, I have discovered that the man has a criminal conviction for assault with a deadly weapon in Fulton County, which is NOT the county in the building is located. Two weeks ago, the man attempted to have a $5,000 portable office delivered to the empty lot, but was thwarted when one of the neighbors called to let me know. I believe that the man will attempt to retaliate by breaking into the building again. This is a major concern for me because I intend to start cleaning out the building so that I can have it appraised and begin some of the major repairs. I don't have the money to hire a crew, so it will be just me doing the cleaning. I don't want the man to come back to the building and get violent toward me. I actually am in fear for my life.
Over the past 10 days, I have filed an incident report with the police and tracked the man to the motel in which he is staying. The police were very dismissive and only took the report because I demanded it as the owner of the building. While I was speaking to the higher ranking officer, the other officer called the man at the number I provided and spoke with him. The man said that he had proof of ownership, which is something he has stated in the past, but has never provided to authorities when asked. The police said this was a civil matter and that there wasn't anything they could do because they didn't want to get sued. Ironically, these same officers know the man well due to his regular removals from the building and complaints from various neighbors and had seen him across town earlier in the week riding a lawn mower in the Home Depot parking lot.
I have attempted to file a Temporary Protective Order with the Superior Court, but have been unable to get help doing so from pro bono organizations because the issue is not domestic in nature. I was sent to four different city government departments and what turned out to be the local domestic violence crisis line, only to be told by each one that they didn't handle these issues. I finally found the Petition for Stalking Temporary Protective Order and the Stalking Ex Parte Temporary Protective Order paperwork, which are the documents all of the online resources said I should fill out since this is not a domestic issue. When I took them to the Superior Court Clerk's Office this morning so that I could get on today's TPO docket, I was told by the Clerk herself, that the document I actually needed to fill out was a simple Temporary Protective Order. However, when I finally found this form online, the only options for "relationship to respondent" were familial ones.
I am ready to pull my hair out. What can I do to get a TPO if I can't even get in front of a judge? The employees at the Clerk's office are distinctly unhelpful and the office does not have the forms to give out. I don't have the money to hire an attorney to do this paperwork and I'm not afraid of going through the process pro se. I just need a little guidance.
Thanks for reading this. Sorry about the length.
