Ex-Owners Turning Aggressive in Efforts to Resist Leaving

One former homeowner rigged his front door with coffeepots filled with boiling water. Another left piles of ferret feces. Hidden compartments have been used as living spaces, with people hiding in attics, tool sheds and garages to elude police.

In the D.C. suburbs, a new class of squatter has emerged, as people illegally remain in homes after they have lost them to the bank. Some have become aggressive in their efforts to stay, setting booby traps to ward off police.

"People got in over their heads, and they don't want to leave," said Loudoun County sheriff's Capt. Chuck Wyant, who oversees the department's five-person eviction unit.

Wyant said calls about squatters aren't just coming from the low- and middle-income neighborhoods of Sterling and Sterling Park anymore. Take the two-story house on West Maple Avenue in middle-class Sterling. It looks simple enough from the outside, but there are signs of trouble.

The front and back yards are unkempt. A rear glass door, which overlooks the city's public golf course, is broken. Beer bottles and old clothing litter the wooden deck. They are indications, neighbors said, that the $430,000, four-bedroom house has turned into a haven for squatters.

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