A week after housing activists rallied around a family facing eviction in Outer Southeast—a confrontation that drew riot cops and saw the use of pepper spray—the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office this morning took a more strategic approach when showing up at another Portland home where a family had vowed to defy an order to quit.
The sheriff’s office confirmed sending deputies this morning to a house occupied by Will and Heather Sirotak, a couple who recently lost a court fight arguing their foreclosed home near NE Cesar Chavez and Klickitat had been illegally sold at auction earlier this year. The Sirotaks, vocal in the anti-foreclosure movement, say their bank refused to work with them after Heather Sirotak was treated for a cancer that her insurer classified as a pre-existing condition and her husband lost his job as a construction manager amid a downturn.
But in a shift, according to activists with We Are Oregon, deputies seemed to be trying to subvert the same rapid-response network of sympathizers who showed up last week. Angus Maguire, spokesman for the group, said deputies in unmarked cars waited until Will Sirotak left the house with his granddaughter and then tailed him, even detaining him briefly, before knocking on the door of the home. Eventually, both the home’s front and back doors were broken down and Heather Sirotak was escorted out while still in her pajamas—her phone, which she was using to call supporters, having been taken away.
Sheriff’s spokesman Lieutenant Steve Alexander wouldn’t comment on “tactics,” but said deputies “did have to go through the door.”
“She refused to vacate and she was trying to use the phone,” he said. “They removed that distraction from her hand and gave it right back to her.”
Maguire said Heather Sirotak’s call to the response network’s dispatcher—the person in charge of sending text alerts—was cut off mid-sentence, but that the dispatcher sent out the alert anyway. But Maguire also said there was an unexplained hiccup in the dispatch system for several minutes. Eventually, the alert was canceled.
“There’s no explanation as to why,” he said. “We haven’t had problems with it in the past.”
The home is officially owned by Will Tucker of Willamette Valley Realty, a company that renovates homes and resells them, and Tucker has since padlocked the homes front gates. He tells me he’s having a professional moving company cart the family’s belongings into a storage unit. The family is keen to get back sentimental objects, including an urn containing the ashes of another grandchild.
“Like I told them,” he said, “they need to have a representative make an appointment. I don’t want either of them to come.”
Tucker says he offered the family money in April to move out after learning they still lived in the house, and then again recently. He said they refused other offers to sell the house over the years, too. I’m waiting to confirm that.
“There are other scenarios where someone is wrongly foreclosed one,” he said. “But this is not one of them.”
Update 1 PM: We Are Oregon replied with this statement:
The foreclosure and eviction were still being contested in court during the auction. The developer was trying to get them to settle for a fraction of the cost. But they knew that the foreclosure was illegal and decided to see the case through. They were offended by that offer because they were still shocked that the house went up for sale even though they were contesting the eviction.
There were many times they tried to put up the house for short sale but each of the offers were refused by the bank.
They had a trial modification for 3 months but it was not permanent and the bank was still foreclosing. This is known as dual-track modification. Which is illegal now that the foreclosure law’s passed, but there is no recourse to enforce it.
They bought the house in 2004. They made all their payments till 2009 after Will lost his job. We don’t even know how he got that 2007 date.
Maguire’s group and other have stepped up their attempts to defend families against dubious foreclosures and are encouraging supporters to send letters to Sheriff Dan Staton and Portland officials asking them for a moratorium on foreclosures.
“There’s been no entertaining of a discussion,” Maguire says. “We had meetings with them a long while back. They were not interested.”
Pure evilness.
“The foreclosure and eviction were still being contested in court during the auction. The developer was trying to get them to settle for a fraction of the cost. But they knew that the foreclosure was illegal and decided to see the case through. They were offended by that offer because they were still shocked that the house went up for sale even though they were contesting the eviction.”
This makes absolutely not sense whatsoever. A foreclosure is an entirely separate legal process from an eviction proceeding which is separate from an “auction” (which is when the foreclosure process stops and the house is sold to the highest bidder which is oftentimes the bank which can credit bid the debt owed). These “housing activists” have no clue.
If you are facing foreclosure, go see a bankruptcy or other type of lawyer. Don’t rely on these folks to save your house because if they’re involved, its likely already too late.
Thank you Denis, for providing a bit more information on the details of the foreclosure this time, though it is still pretty confusing.
@babygorilla: “us activists” know the legal terms… I am one of those “housing activists” in MN and nearly the same thing happened to me. I applied for a modification, they told me they were modifying my loan but, instead, the were foreclosing without even reviewing my modification app.
“copy and paste” the Sirotaks’ story up to the eviction and it mimics mine. I sued the bank and Freddie Mac for wrongful foreclosure and got no where for almost 18 months. I joined forces with Occupy Homes MN and within FOUR DAYS had a settlement offer from FM.
So “us activists” do know what we’re talking about. Do you research before you begin marginalizing groups who you’re not familiar with.
This is based on LIES! Chase Bank did an unlawful extrajudicial foreclose & we were only recenly denied our chance to prove our case in court, by the maneuvers of Will Tucker’s attorney. There is a list of irregularities we warned Will Tucker about before he went ahead & purchased, despite pending litigation. He knew damn well we were living in the home when he came over the next day to try & entice us to move out for $10,000.
The reality is that if the banks don’t work with you and you cannot make the house payment then you have to move. Many people over the last few years have had to face that reality. Most don’t put their family in jeopardy and just stay defiantly. They go and find reasonable living arrangements. Filing bankruptcy with or without including the house was another option. We all have to make tough decisions at times but most do it in honorable and respectful ways. Staying house for 3+ years without paying rent/mortgage is not honorable.
MOMof3:
Why should someone “have to move” if the bank won’t work with them? If they break the law, and the homeowner has to move, why would they follow the law? If the courts and the government aren’t holding them accountable, are we just supposed to stand aside and watch, or do we stand up to the robber banks and stand up for our friends and neighbors?
I am proud of Will and Heather for staying in their home. What has been done to them, both by Will Tucker and the Sheriff infuriates me.
Housing is a human right- stay in your home.
Shame on the Multnomah Sheriff for what they have done and shame on Will Tucker.
Way to come through for these people, We Are Oregon. You got your moment in the alt press sun and they’re living in a motel on their credit cards.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/s…