VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A case involving a squatter in Virginia Beach headed to court on Friday, resulting in a trespassing conviction against the man who built his house on another person’s property.
The property owners on St. Pauls Street brought a criminal trespass charge against Mike Bateman, who has built an elaborate structure on the property.
“It’s illegal. We have laws that protect us from these things, but they’re not being enforced through our Virginia Beach city officials,” owner Everette Brown said.
However, Bateman was not ordered Friday to immediately vacate the land where he built his structure.
Bateman declined to comment on the outcome of the case following the hearing.
Some testimony from landowners and those on Bateman’s side of the case called into question whether Bateman’s structure is actually built on the Browns’ part of the property, or a neighboring parcel.
Those questions will need to be answered before a court can order Bateman off the land.
Brown says Bateman’s structure is illegal and Virginia Beach city officials have failed to do anything since 2017.
Bateman claims he has adverse possession of the property because he’s been there for 20 years, but a lawyer for the property owners says that’s not true. The lawyer says it’s clear from Google Earth that the first evidence of any structure on the property was from April 2013.
Everette Brown and his mother testified they have ordered Bateman off their property.
Bateman’s side tried to call into question whether Bateman was even trespassing on the Brown part of the property.
“If he is in the structure then he is occupying our property,” Brown told 10 On Your Side outside court. Only a small part of the structure, mostly an overhang, is actually on the Brown property.
The other property that has the actual structure on it is said to be owned by Curtis Wilson, but his testimony was vague.
Wilson had no deed information except to say he is an heir to his grandparents’ property. James Wilson is also an heir to the property.
“We hope we can rectify this by finding the information we need to show proof of the property of our family, the Barcliffs and Wilsons… We want Mike Bateman off the property, and he refuses to leave,” James Wilson said.
Brown’s legal team is confident after a drawn-out process they will finally get Mike Bateman off the property he does not own.
“We will get people to testify based on their examination of the records maintained by the clerk that Mr. Wilson has an ownership interest,” attorney Kevin Brunick said.
Brown’s other attorney Sonny Stallings is adamant that it’s “enough for us to tell him to leave.”
“If I have ownership in a property, then I can tell you to get off,” Stallings said.
Brownis frustrated that Bateman’s refusal to leave has not been challenged by the City of Virginia Beach.
The only thing that has happened following WAVY’s previous report on the issue is the power meter Bateman convinced the city to give him has since been removed, in part because Bateman is not the landowner.
“Look, he’s got no running water, no electricity, no plumbing, no sewage, no nothing. What’s my message to the city of Virginia Beach? Do your job. When are you going to put on a violation and tear down the structure?” Brown told WAVY News.
The judge fined Bateman $1,000, suspended $500 of it, and gave Bateman a suspended jail sentence.
Bateman will return to the home. It will take a court order to get him out.
“As soon as we get a judge’s order we go in with a bulldozer and tear it down,” Stallings said.
Read Andy Fox’s original special report on the case here.
