An Arizona squatter has been arrested for illegally moving into a dead man's home and selling him his SUV, the local sheriff's office said.
The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office arrested a man on Jan. 3 on multiple felonies, including allegedly selling the deceased man's 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe with forged documents to make it appear he was the legal owner. The suspect, Michael McInnis (45 years old), has been arrested.
Investigators say McInnis illegally moved into the Cordes Lakes home of an unidentified deceased person in May 2023, and while “occupying” the home, “acted as the personal representative of the estate.” The sheriff's office said he is suspected of falsifying the vehicle's documents to make it appear as if the vehicle was stolen. Thursday's press release. Authorities said the legal homeowner had died “several months” before McInnis moved in.
McInnis is accused of forging documents to sell Tahoes to residents of Flagstaff, about 130 miles north of Cordes Lakes.
Authorities said McInnis resisted arrest on January 3, “including slamming a metal door into the deputy's wrist” and reportedly swallowed dozens of fentanyl pills.
“They were eventually able to take him into custody and it was said that he likely swallowed up to 40 fentanyl pills before being arrested and was then clearing the drug from his stomach,” the sheriff's office said in a press release. On the way to the jail, he became increasingly incoherent and drowsy, and was administered Narcan by jail medical staff and then taken to the hospital by ambulance, the release said.
He has since been released from the hospital and charged with nine felonies, including aggravated assault on law enforcement and charges related to forgery and fraud charges.
In recent years, burglary incidents have occurred across the United States and around the world, with suspects typically targeting vacation homes, rental homes, and other homes where the rightful owners have been absent for long periods of time.
According to the report, properties of deceased individuals have also been targeted by suspected squatters.
Police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year arrested a suspect who moved into a home where the homeowner and tenant had recently died as squatters.
In Las Vegas in 2021, police made a disturbing discovery on private property. The body of an elderly female homeowner was found in a shallow grave.
Police said the squatters entered the house, discovered the woman's body, dismembered it, buried it, and continued to live in the house.
