A DeKalb County woman is accusing her former landlord of unlawful eviction, adding that a gun was pointed in her face during the time of her removal, WSB TV reports.
Cherise McMoore said she was forced to vacate her home at Cavalier at 100 Apartments, located on Panola Road in Stonecrest, Georgia, by a courtesy officer on duty at the complex. She alleges that the official, a police officer, illegally evicted her from her home at gunpoint.
“As I opened the door and stepped out, I just seen a gun just in my face,” McMoore recalled. “It was traumatizing. It really was.”
McMoore said that both a leasing manager and the courtesy officer carried out an unlawful eviction without any paperwork from the DeKalb County courts. Active attorneys in the area report that there has been a spike in illegal eviction cases since 2020. However, landlords are required to follow the court process, which means only a judge has the right to order an eviction.
“A landlord can’t simply decide that they don’t want you in their property anymore,” said Atlanta Legal Aid attorney Erin Willoughby. “The way the law is set out in Georgia, there’s one person and one person only who has the right to tell you that you no longer have the right to live somewhere, and that person is a judge.”
She added that illegal evictions are on the rise across Metro Atlanta and that, in McMoore’s case, the presence of a DeKalb police officer at the time of the incident was a major no-no.
At the time of the encounter, the DeKalb woman used a cell phone to capture video footage. In the clip, the courtesy officer on duty can be heard telling McMoore that she has the right to take legal action if she opposes management’s action.
Per court records, in Oct. 2023, a magistrate judge granted Cavalier at 100 Apartments the right to evict McMoore. However, the case was dropped against her without prejudice by the complex a month later. Additionally, management refiled the eviction later that month, seeking $1,703 in rent, but the case was dismissed after attorneys and apartment management officials did not appear in court.
Daniel Crumby, an attorney for McMoore, said that there was no official court order on file for his client’s eviction. However, court records show that in May, Cavalier at 100 was granted a $16,000 judgment in the case. Per the documents, both parties agreed that if the tenants moved out, they would not have to adhere to the judgment. The apartment complex notes that the tenants—McMoore and her family—did indeed move out at the time.
By turning in the keys, which records say McMoore did on May 29, the case was “dismissed, and the lessee granted the property with possession on May 28th before a writ was issued.”
The DeKalb Police Department launched an internal affairs investigation after McMoore filed a complaint, citing that the officer pointed his gun at her during the time of the reported eviction. Detective Winston Simms said that when he was told the complex needed help removing “aggressive squatters,” he informed Cavalier at 100 Apartments management that he did not have the authority to evict as a police officer.
Instead, he agreed to assist the manager in ensuring her safety. The internal investigation found that Simms violated the department policy by assisting with the McMoore’s removal from the property as well as their rifle policy.
A corporate representative for Cavalier at 100 Apartments said that this was not an eviction but an occupancy check since McMoore reportedly turned in her keys in May.
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