Squatter Tries To Steal San Diego Home While Owner Is In Hospital

Photo: Getty Images

Officers arrested Jeffrey Goddard after they were alerted he was squatting in a house that he doesn't own or pay rent for.

According to NBC7, Goddard told officers he saw the house on the news last month after the 84-year-old homeowner was sent to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning. The homeowner's adult daughter was found dead inside the home.

Neighbors said Goddard spent nearly every night at the Clairemont house for more than a week. They watched him replace the door, change the locks, and even receive Amazon packages.

"The gentleman [homeowner] is still alive," one neighbor, Kathy, told NBC7. "There should be no reason that this person should be allowed in this house."

Kathy and other neighbors approached Goddard and said he claimed squatters rights.

"The whole neighborhood believes that we need to help [the homeowner]," she continued. "We didn’t know him but we need to help him."

Neighbors decided to contact the homeowner's closest living relative, his niece April Todd, who lives in Texas.

According to NBC7, the family learned that Goddard had also paid the property taxes on the home and even changed the utilities to his name.

"It has been a living nightmare," Todd told NBC7. "I couldn’t sleep. I would just close my eyes and I would just see this guy in my uncle’s house."

As of Monday afternoon (January 17), Goddard was still booked in the San Diego County Jail and his arraignment is set for Thursday, January 20.


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content