Squatters occupying home brought guns, thousands of fentanyl pills, Washington cops say

Twelve weapons, more than 15,000 fentanyl pills and more than $40,000 were seized from a Washington home occupied by squatters.

Sammamish Police Chief Dan Pingrey told McClatchy News that the owners of a multimillion-dollar home bought the house for their son to live in while attending college, but he had been staying with them overseas during the coronavirus pandemic. Unbeknownst to the owners, two people had been living in the house for about a month, he said.

Because the home was unoccupied, locals were helping maintain the house, according to Pingrey. Police got a call May 14 after someone went to check on the home and found 12 guns, more than 15,000 fentanyl pills, steroids, meth, heroin, bulletproof vests and more than $40,000, he said.

A man and woman were arrested for trespassing and after they were released from jail, they returned to the house with other people to try to get their stuff back, according to Pingrey.

“After they were out of jail, we had a large group trying to get back into the house,” Pingrey told KIRO 7. “No one was supposed to be there. The homeowners were not allowing anyone to stay there.”

Pingrey said the squatters demanded that they be allowed to take their possessions and on May 21, the police conducted a “civil standby,” in which police oversee a potentially hostile situation while people retrieve their belongings.

The homeowners identified furniture in the house as theirs and police stood by for five hours as the squatters got their stuff from the house, according to Pingrey.

Photos from a neighbor show the squatters filling a U-Haul with items and an ATM and other appliances in the garage, KIRO 7 reported.

“We were not allowed to go in there with them and had to allow them to take this property out,” Pingrey said, according to the station. “The person who had been illegally living there (was able) to come in and get what they stated was their property.”

Two women then broke into the house May 22 to get more stuff, after the locks had been changed, Pingrey said. The women were arrested, charged with burglary and then released.

“The homeowners removed all of the items that were left behind and we haven’t had any additional problems,” he said.