Around the Region: How to Spot Squatters, How Not to Deliver Pizza and Why to Exercise Caution With Craigslist Transactions

– Douglasville Patch

Members of the and met with approximately 30 residents this week explaining what to look for and how to report squatters.

“These people drive around basically and they just look for homes that appear to be grown up or have a real estate sign in front and no furniture inside the house,” said Det. Josh Skinner of the Douglasville Police Department.

Skinner said squatters then do a title search to determine if the house is in foreclosure proceedings and file adverse possession paperwork in order to begin staking out their claim.

Det. Mac Abercrombie, also of the Douglasville Police Department, handed out a five-page packet of information to residents who attended Tuesday night's meeting at the Douglasville Municipal Building. The information provided described what squatting is and how residents can protect themselves and their community.

– Loganville Patch

A pizza delivery man accidently ran into the garage of a home he was delivering pizza to at a house on Bullock Bridge Road, Loganville, on New Year's Eve.

According to a report from the , at about 8 p.m. the evening of Dec. 31, Sheriff's deputies responded to a private property accident call regarding a truck that ran through a garage and was lodged in a wall.

The pizza delivery man said as he was leaving after delivering a pizza to the home, he accidently backed off the pavement into a culvert. The truck was stuck so he got out to try and free it. After freeing it, he had to jump back into the truck to try and hit the brakes, accidently hitting the gas instead. The truck went through the garage and into a wall.

The pizza delivery man was reported to have received a superficial cut on his nose. No other injuries were reported.

– Cartersville Patch

A Bartow County man may have fallen victim to serious crime as a result of Craigslist, the online classifieds site linked to numerous murders and robberies across the country.

The 25-year-old from White said he went to Roth Lane in Cartersville about 8 p.m. Wednesday night to meet with a man he knew as "E" and sell him a pitbull, according to a incident report. 

The victim, a dog trainer, said E encouraged him to drive to the end of Cedar Creek Road, where E's mother lives, to drop off the dog. But when they stopped at a , E pulled a gun, pointed it at the victim's head, and demanded money and insisted on driving the vehicle.

The victim said he thought E, who took $10 of the victim's $11, was going to "shoot him and leave him for dead," so he pulled a knife from his pocket and went for the gun.

During the struggle, E lost control of the vehicle, the victim said. When authorities arrived, he was cut, was bleeding from the left side of his face and complained of dizziness, but he declined medical attention.

Deputies were unable to locate the second man in the woods.