In a scene ripped straight from a Halloween horror movie, a Florida motel purchased by the county as a place to shelter the unhoused was destroyed by a horde of squatters, according to police.
An empty Budget Inn motel in Gainesville, Fla., was taken over by squatters who broke into the utilities to get heat and water and electricity and then barricaded themselves inside. The damage is estimated at $15,000.
Drug paraphernalia was rife throughout the facility, police said.
The Sheriff's Department swept through and arrested the trespassers on charges of damaging the building, engaging in drug activity, and illegally tapping utilities.
“It was a dangerous situation, but there was evidence of heavy drug use, there were thousands of dollars in damage to the facility we want to renovate, and we don’t want it to be damaged anymore before we get to the renovations,” Mark Sexton, the communications director for Alachua County, told wcjb.com.
WCJB explained that county commissioners purchased the motel in 2020 for more than $2 million as a shelter for the homeless, but it remained vacant while they secured funding for renovations.