A Lake Tahoe resident returned from vacation to an unsettling scene: personal items were gone, and authorities say someone appeared to have been living inside his home while he was away.
The homeowner, who has not been publicly identified, lives on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe and had been out of town for three weeks before arriving back at the property on June 5.
During his absence, police said, an intruder had gone through the refrigerator, consumed food and drinks, rearranged items inside the house and taken clothing. The resident also told investigators that his birth certificate was missing.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the evidence suggested the property had been “unlawfully occupied,” and investigators named Clarence Zillman as a person of interest in the case.
Authorities said Zillman allegedly left behind a wallet at the home that contained a Visa debit card bearing his name, along with a Safeway receipt for two packs of Camel cigarettes.
Detectives then examined surveillance video from the Safeway at Round Hill Shopping Center in Zephyr Cove, a community along Lake Tahoe’s southern shoreline.
By linking the store footage to the cigarette transaction, investigators said they were able to capture a fairly clear image of the person who made the purchase.
In that image, the person of interest is shown wearing a blue plaid shirt and a baseball cap — items the victim identified as belonging to him, according to police.
Police released this image of a person of interest in the case of a squatter who left behind a wallet with a debit card in his name at a house in Lake Tahoe
The homeowner had been on vacation, and when he returned, he found that some of his belongings were missing. Lake Tahoe is pictured
Authorities released the photo and asked the public to share any information they might have about the pictured individual, likely to confirm that he is indeed Zillman.
The homeowner found the shirt that he recognized from the surveillance footage, but the hat was missing, police said.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation was still active as of July 9.
The person in the photo has not been named a suspect. He is instead a person of interest until police have enough evidence to accuse him of squatting in the house.
Police have asked anyone who recognizes the man in the surveillance footage or might have any information relevant to the investigation to contact Investigator JT Davis at 775-586-7253.
The Daily Mail has covered several other bizarre cases of squatting in recent months.
Across the pond last week, a British couple returned after a three-month absence to their holiday home in Menorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean.
Upon arriving, they discovered that a 55-year-old man and his 25-year-old son had been living on the property and had installed a new security system. The couple’s furniture and rugs were also gone.
The homeowner also found that the squatter had helped themselves to food and beverages and said his birth certificate was missing (Stock images of homes on Lake Tahoe)
Police were able to identify a person of interest because the squatter had left a receipt for cigarettes in the house (Stock images of homes on Lake Tahoe)
In March, a 66-year-old woman named Hilarie Page was summoned to court for reportedly refusing to leave a four-story property on Manhattan’s Upper East Side following the death of its wealthy owner.
She had been working as a live-in housekeeper for entrepreneur Craig Schmeizer before his death – which came just weeks after she was arrested for allegedly assaulting him.
And in February, a self-proclaimed bankruptcy expert named Tamieka Goode, 40, was revealed to have been squatting in a $2.3 million Bethesda, Maryland, home after a pre-law student living next door saw her changing the locks when the previous homeowner went into foreclosure.
She had touted her services as a financial advisor online and shared ‘inspirational’ social media posts of herself, her Porsche and her mansion, suggesting she was a self-made success.
But the student soon uncovered paperwork that told the real story: Goode was living on food stamps, relying on child support from the father of her 16-year-old daughter and was herself bankrupt.
