A squatting ring in the province of Alicante have been given suspended sentences after the prosecution and defence reached a plea deal. This deal meant that the case could be closed without going to court. The five defendants admitted guilt in exchange for a big drop in the terms that the Public Prosecutor’s Office had originally asked for, which were more than ten years.
A criminal court in Alicante ruled that the accused behaved in an organised way and used the same method in each case. They rented tourist apartments for relatively short periods of time, like a few days or a weekend, so they could legally get into the homes. Once they got inside, they wouldn’t leave. They brought in a lot of family members to stay in the residences permanently and stop any attempts to evict them. After that, they asked the owners for up to €14,000 to leave, and they threatened to destroy the flats badly if their requests were not satisfied.
The prosecution says that this was the defendants’ main source of income. They didn’t just pick any properties at random; they looked for ones in tourist locations with views of the sea. The events in question happened in the town of La Vila Joiosa. There were many duties for the defendants. One was the spokesperson and negotiator with the owners, deciding how much to pay and when to pay it. Another was in charge of managing the rentals by lying and making the contracts official. The other members of the group were in charge of keeping the properties occupied and putting direct pressure on the owners when they came to see them.
The punishments
The court sentenced the first two defendants to six months in prison for each act of extortion and three months in prison for a third count of attempted extortion after they accepted a plea deal. Each defendant was given a prison sentence of one year and three months. Three additional defendants were found guilty of the minor crime of squatting and given a fine of 135 euros each, which is 45 days at three euros per day. Also, one of them was condemned to jail for three months for forgery. Because the defendants agreed to a plea deal, admitted guilt, and the case took too long to get to trial, the judge gave them much less in penalties than the prosecution had asked for, which was more than ten years in jail. It took more than three years for the case to go to trial. The sentence is final and ends the court case.
The court agreed to put the defendants’ prison terms on hold, which means they won’t have to go to jail. It also made the homeowners pay more than €4,000 in civil damages for the damage to their properties, though.
The facts
The events happened at several apartment buildings in the Cala area between 2021 and 2022. The defendants moved into the first of the three properties in August 2021, after signing a lease for just one weekend. When the owner went to the property to tell the renters to leave, they said they couldn’t because they had rented the house for a long time.
A month later, the spokesperson called the owner’s husband to tell him that if he didn’t pay them €14,000 (€5,000 for him and €9,000 to be split among the others), they would utterly damage his home. The victims agreed to pay, but they wanted a signed paper saying that they would give back the keys and depart. The accused left a few days after getting paid. But after a few months of relative calm, they called again and said they wanted another €9,000 or they would move back into the house. This time, the victims told the police about what happened, but they were unable to get the items back.
In the second case, they rented a place using someone else’s papers and did the same thing again. This time, they signed the rental agreement at the real estate office with someone else’s ID. They tried the same trick to convince the owner to pay, but they only paid the first month’s rent.
In a third case, they even asked the owners for money to avoid challenging a court decision that previously told them to leave the property. They rented a new place in May 2022, and the same thing happened again. They were only intended to remain for a week for 400 euros, according to the paperwork. The cleaning lady found the defendants and their families there at the end of the week. They said they were staying since they had signed a one-year contract. A few days later, the owner came and saw that the defendants and their families were still there. They told him to go when they saw him.
The victims went to court to get their home back, and a month later, they got a call from the defendants saying they would appeal the judgement and stay in the house longer if they didn’t pay €2,100. The defendants were finally caught in June 2022 after taking over a fourth property near the port of Villajoyosa. The owner didn’t know about or agree to the defendants living there. The Guardia Civil apprehended them after another intervention and after they found out what was going on at the house.
Author: Derek Appleton
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