Illegal evictions on the rise: DeKalb woman says she was forced out of her apartment at gunpoint

A DeKalb County mother says she was illegally evicted from her home by gunpoint. An investigation discovered there was no court order on file when that attempted eviction happened.

Attorneys say they have seen an increase in illegal eviction cases since 2020. Attorneys say no matter how much a tenant may owe, landlords have to follow the court process by letting a judge grant an eviction.

“As I opened the door and stepped out, I just seen a gun just in my face,” Cherise McMoore said.

“It was traumatizing. It was really was,” she said.

“You’re telling us that we have to leave, on an eviction that hasn’t gone through.”

It was a rife that McMoore says a DeKalb County police officer pointed at her before she started recording cell phone video.

“I’m the assistant manager, locks have been changed.”

McMoore says in April, a leasing manager at the Cavalier at 100 Apartments on Panola Road in Stonecrest came to her with the property’s courtesy officer, who is also a DeKalb police officer.

She says the two forced her and her family out of her apartment with no paperwork from DeKalb County courts.

“Why hasn’t she shown you any eviction papers, because there is none.”

At one point in the video, the officer tells McMoore she can take legal action if she questions management’s actions.

“If you want to sue them for wrongful eviction you can do that.”

McMoore’s son, who was the lease holder for the unit, admits they fell behind on rent.

“Everybody’s got a hard time, and we still do have to go through process,” Cherise McMoore said.

Lincoln looked through court records and discovered a magistrate judge granted an eviction in Oct. 2023, but the following month, the complex decided to drop the case without prejudice.

Later that month, management refiled for eviction, seeking $1,703 in rent. But the case was dismissed because attorneys nor management for the apartment showed up to court.

At the time of the cell phone recording, Daniel Crumby, McMoore’s attorney, says there was no official court order on file for an eviction.

“To be clear, their actions happened before the governor signed this new bill, empowering law enforcement to, enforce criminal trespassing,” Crumby told Lincoln.

“A landlord can’t simply decide that they don’t want you in their property anymore,” said Erin Willoughby, an attorney for Atlanta Legal Aid.

Willoughby says it doesn’t matter how much a renter owes: Landlords still have to follow due process. She says legal advocates across metro Atlanta are seeing more illegal eviction cases.

“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,” Willoughby said.

She said another red flag in the case is the presence of the DeKalb police officer.

“ In order to actually set someone out from their property, a courtesy officer is never legally empowered to take that action.”

Willoughby says sheriff’s deputies or the marshal’s service are the only entities authorized to execute evictions in Georgia.

Through an open records request, Channel 2 learned the DeKalb officer involved is Detective Winston Simms. The department launched an internal affairs investigation after McMoore filed a complaint.

IA investigators determined Simms did violate the department’s rifle policy and other department policies by assisting apartment management.

However, investigators noted they found no evidence that Simms pointed his gun. McMoore disagrees.

“He did not have it across. He directly had it in his hand. He had both his hands up on the gun. It was directly in my face,” she said.

In his own words in a police report, Simms says apartment management told him they needed help removing aggressive squatters. Simms said he did inform management that as a police officer, he did not have authority to evict, but agreed to assist the assistant manager for her safety.

After multiple emails and phone calls to Cavalier at 100 Apartments, Lincoln went by the property to try and speak with a manager.

Corporate eventually emailed Channel 2 a statement, not calling this an eviction, but rather an occupancy check. The complex says the officer was assisting the manager and the property performed its due diligence by contacting local authorities to confirm whether they had the right to stay as squatters.

“You just can’t just show up and throw people out or show up and threaten people or make people feel unsafe,” McMoore said.

In May of this year, Cavalier at 100 won a $16,000 judgement in this case. Court records say both parties agreed that if the tenants moved out they would be absolved of that judgment. The apartment complex tells us the McMoores did indeed move out.