So what do you think about people renting out a home that is not theirs? Seems like one way to make money in this economy if you’re looking for free room and board at the local jail house.

Yet this is what happened in West Natomas, in a gated neighborhood that has million dollar homes and such neighbors as the owners of the Sacramento Kings, former Kings star Mike Bibby and other such people with fame and money.

At issue is a 3,361 square foot, 4 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom home that has been vacant for some time. Police investigating the case found that the home had been purchased at auction last Thursday by Aurora Loan Services Inc. of Littleton, Colo, and that Aurora did not know who Phillis Powers was or why someone was living in their home.

However, when police approached the people living in the house, the couple produced a contract allowing them to rent the home for $1,500 a month. The contract had the name of Sacramento real estate broker Phillis Powers. (Hopefully she wouldn’t be a broker much longer.)

To make matters more bizarre, there were two printed signs in the front window claiming the home was the “Private Property of sovereign Woman of republic of California” and that federal and state employees could not access the property.

The sign also mentioned “freeman” which may be a reference to the radical anti-government group that gained fame in 1996 during an 81 day standoff with federal authorities in Montana.

So now, along with everything else that’s happening, we have to watch out for scammers renting homes that they don’t own. Don’t tell the politicians in Sacramento about this, they might use this technique to balance the budget.

For some more of this bizarre story
Sacramento Bee