(Memphis) A self-proclaimed sovereign citizen ran into reporters as she drove back to an East Memphis home where her family has been squatting.
Tabitha Gentry told reporters, “you are on private property.”
The home is actually bank-owned, and Gentry filed paperwork with the county registrar’s office claiming the property.
A spokesman for the Shelby County District Attorney’s office said just because someone files papers doesn’t make them necessarily immediate owners of a property.
When asked why Gentry chose this house, she said “Why not? It’s a beautiful house.”
She said she was living in it with her family: “It’s a lot. There’s a lot of us. It’s a big family.”
If police come to evict them, she said she would “deal with them.”
Gentry also told reporters her right to stay there is a legal issue, and that she wouldn’t discuss it.
It’s not the first time so-called sovereign citizens have done this.
In 2010, a News Channel 3 On Your Side investigation showed many sovereigns had filed paperwork to claim deeds on houses.
One of them was Michael Cobbs, who had laid claim to a dozen Mid-South homes.
“These aren’t the only homes I’m going to take. I’m going to take over everything I can,” he said.
This is based on their notion that government and financial institutions are made up.
“You got to call every bank in America fake. Every Realtor in America fake. And by the time this is all over and done with, this will be all across the news all across the nation,” Cobbs said.
Meanwhile, Memphis police continue to investigate Gentry’s occupation of the East Memphis home, to see if her family can be charged with criminal trespass or even theft of the house.