By Rebecca Palsha
Published: Jun. 6, 2024 at 2:02 PM AKDT|Updated: Jun. 7, 2024 at 9:06 AM AKDT
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The house at the corner of Eagle Street and East 14th Avenue sits boarded up, paint peeling; used condoms are in the yard near the plywood with “Keep Out!” spray painted in red lettering.
It stands in stark contrast to the tidy homes to its left and right, with flower beds and neat lawns.
“Hello!” Jessie Larson yelled, standing outside before walking in through a basem*nt door ripped off the wall.
This is her grandparents’ home, which they bought in the 1970s.
Larson’s mother was raised here and her grandmother would babysit her in the home.
“Lots of Thanksgiving’s here, lots of Christmas dinners here,” Larson said. “She [her grandmother] used to babysit us all the time.”
Larson has been struggling to gain control of the home for several months.
When her grandparent’s health started failing earlier this year, Larson says a homeless man arrived claiming to be sent from Veterans Affairs as a caretaker. She says soon after the home was full of dozens of homeless people living in the basem*nt.
“She [Larson’s grandmother] didn’t know anybody was down there because they would break in through the door down here, and it’s cut off through the top floor,” Larson said.
At one point, Larson says, at least 30 people were camping inside the home or on the lawn in makeshift tents.
“They were just everywhere — chairs, random chairs on the floor, in the bedroom, five people on the bed,” Larson said. “Just everywhere, and when we walked in that day, when the cops came, and we took my grandma, there was some girl shooting up in her foot, smoking meth. There was somebody cooking in the kitchen. My grandma didn’t even know who he was.”
That’s when, she said, her grandparents ended up in the hospital, where they later died.
Larson says she has repeatedly called Anchorage police and reported the problems online.
“No less than 10 times. Minimum probably 15 times,” Larson texted.
Larson showed Alaska’s News Source several digital messages from APD rejecting her multiple online police reports about the various crimes she claims were happening inside the home.
“There is not enough information to allow us to process your report,” one read.
“This type of crime must be reported in person and/or requires an officer response,” says another.
Asked why homeless people were allowed to stay inside the home, and what APD could do to help, a police spokesperson emailed saying some of the reports were rejected because more information was needed or that not all reports can be filed online and need an officer to respond.
APD says officers, at some points, did respond and investigate, and that “when probable cause existed,” criminal charges were filed. A spokesperson also said that the department advised Larson to pursue civil action.
“Regarding squatters inside a house, there is a difference between people breaking into a home and people refusing to leave a home they once had permission to be in,” APD spokesperson Renee Oistad wrote. “Those are two entirely different scenarios and have two different police responses. People breaking into a home, who never had permission to be there, may be charged criminally. People who had permission to be in a home, and then subsequently refused to leave, is a civil issue and the eviction process through the court system must be pursued by the complainant.”
Larson says this has essentially put the situation in a loop where people refuse to leave, claim to have a lease, break in and destroy the home, and leave before police arrive, with the best recourse being in civil court against people who — for the most part — don’t have money.
Alaska’s News Source toured the home with Larson on a recent sunny morning.
When Larson walked inside the home, she was met with a stale smell, thick with the scent of cigarettes.
“Oh, it smells so bad,” Larsen said.
Two police cars drove by during the visit.
Inside the home, a mattress was laid across what used to be a hot tub. Trash was everywhere. In the kitchen, decorative butterfly magnets hung on the fridge.
“These are Pioneer Woman,” Larson said picking up blue mixing bowls with white flowers. “I actually got these for her [grandmother] for Mother’s Day last year. I’m surprised they’re still here, and they’re not broken. I’m taking them.
“This is insane.”
Larson says she hopes to sell the home.
“There is just so much damage from the squatters, so much drugs it’s not really salvageable unless we pay $200,000 to completely gut it and start over,” Larson texted.
Stay informed with the latest news and weather alerts from the Alaska's News Source apps
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
