LA County deputies clear RV storage lot taken over by squatters
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department started clearing some of the campers at an RV storage lot once taken over by dozens of squatters.
"This situation is unique," said Capt. Jeff Deedrick, part of LASD's homeless outreach team. "You'll have some who are vulnerable and who are homeless. Then, you have some who are opportunists and saw, 'Hey, I can get a trailer.' Then, there were people that were predatory and that were starting fires."
Deputies told 35 to 40 homeless residents to leave the property after a judge granted an eviction order earlier this week. However, the actual eviction day is next week. The "unique" situation at the empty lot of land stems from a years-long legal dispute between the property owner and the luxury RV company Black Series.
The lot's owners, Legacy Point LLC, claimed that Black Series placed about 100 campers on the land without their consent or knowledge a couple of years ago. After two years, a Los Angeles County court ordered the RV company to pay the landowner $95,610, according to Legacy Point. The property owner said they have not received the settlement as of March 26.
"While we would have greatly preferred a more expeditious resolution, we recognize that the deliberate pace of our legal system, though at times frustrating, is a fundamental aspect of ensuring due process of law," Legacy Point said in a statement.
Black Series' owner, Jack Hongwei Qiu, said that he had been renting the lot since 2021, but there appeared to be some confusion about who he was actually paying. He said that he learned that he was paying a subleaser rather than the actual property owners.
"We been paying the rent to the wrong guy," he said. "They never told us it's the wrong landlord for the last two or three years."
Legacy Point's attorney maintained their claims and added that Black Sries refused to leave, despite cease-and-desist notices and failed negotiations. Qiu said the landowners always knew they were on the lot.
"They knew we were always here," he said. "We didn't reach an agreement with them on how to rent this property, how to manage the property, how to secure the property."
While the legal dispute ended in January, Black Series said at least 50 of its campers, which are worth between $40,000 and $100,000, were taken over by squatters. Some of the RVs were towed off the lot after being burned.
"We feel like we are the victim because there are $5 million, $6 million worth of RVs damaged," Qiu said.
One of the people living in the RVs said they moved into the campers out of desperation only after others broke into them. Others said they thought the campers were abandoned. When deputies cleared the lot on Thursday, they heard conflicting stories with some of the homeless residents saying they had been there for weeks while others said they had lived in the RVs for years.
Others also said they had been paying rent to someone.
"I mean, I was giving money to some Asian dude. It was like $300," one homeless man, who wished to stay anonymous, said. "One day they just started taking trailers and they wouldn't even tell us why or what's going on."
Qiu said he has never charged anyone rent.
"We never charged rent," he said. "I told them to not pay any rent to anyone."
While they wanted to clear some of the trash and wrecked RVs, Capt. Deedrick said his team would prioritize providing services to all of the people living on the lot. So far, deputies have connected 10 people to interim housing.
"No one is going to be allowed to be here in five days," Deedrick said. "Our hope is to connect them properly that way no eviction needs to happen."
