TOLEDO, Ohio — A Defiance family has two days to move out of their home.
Their trailer and others were advertised on Facebook marketplace as fixer uppers while Defiance Partners, LLC, the company that owns the trailer park where the homes sit, knew those trailers were going to be torn down.
"The end of October is when we saw the post, beginning of November," said McKenna Murray, who lives in one of 18 units that was to be torn down, according to City of Defiance documents dated Sept. 15, 2023.
Call 11 for Action has located the now-deleted Facebook post that started off a chain of events that will see Murray, her family and others homeless on Friday.
The park manager for North Towne Estates advertised vacant trailers for people to rehabilitate and move into them.
"We didn't move in until Thanksgiving Day, until after we did most of the renovations," Murray said.
The problem is, those homes were slated for demolition, declared a nuisance by the city and in violation of nine city codes back in September. That's more than a month before the Facebook advertisement.
Call 11 for Action tried calling both the former park manager, Holly Miranda and the owner, Adam Schwerin, on Wednesday. Miranda's call was sent to voicemail.
Schwerin has an address in St. Petersburg, Fla., and is associated with 13 LLCs. When Call 11 for Action tried calling him, the call went to a St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce automated announcement.
Call 11 for Action also located documents on the Ohio Secretary of State website showing Schwerin named himself as Statutory Agent of Defiance Partners, LLC in paperwork filed in May 2014.
In April 2023, the Secretary of State's office sent Defiance Partners, LLC a letter stating that it had, "failed to maintain a statutory agent," and according to Ohio Revised Code, "the law provides for cancellation of the business entity if a subsequent agent is not named within 30 days of the date hereof."
On May 10, 2023, a final letter was sent stating, "failure to file this form has resulted in the cancellation of the business entity and this entity may no longer transact business in Ohio."
The action leaves Schwerin personally vulnerable to civil legal action without the protection of the LLC. Defiance Law Director Sean O'Donnell said he was aware of the license revocation and said anyone who continues business outside of an LLC is "taking on a personal risk," should anyone decide to take civil action.
Call 11 for Action talked to Amy Desmarais via Facebook on Wednesday.
Desmarais said she was able to obtain the title to her trailer at North Towne Estates and can remain at the park.
But she also feels sorry for the tenants who have to move out, especially those with children.
She said the former park manager was trying to save the trailers from being torn down.
"She told all of the long-term residents back in October that we needed to start doing work on our trailers because a lot of us don't own them and neither does the trailer park, to make sure that the city didn't kick us out and do this to us," said Desmarais. "Then come to find out, that she already knew about the other trailers that were getting torn down because she told us she knew what other trailers were getting torn down and that she was going to move people into them on purpose to get them fixed up so that the city couldn't tear them down."
Call 11 for Action talked O'Donnell, Wednesday who said advertising the trailers that are slated to be torn down is not necessarily "criminal," but the tenants can pursue civil proceedings against Schwerin through the Ohio Attorney General's office.
"Ohio does not have a criminal fraud statute that we could prosecute and this activity, while duplicitous, does not quite rise to the level of theft. Ohio does, however, have a civil action for fraud that the Ohio Attorney General's office enforces," he said.
As to what the city is doing to help tenants, O'Donnell said the city can only advise housing agencies that the tenants need help finding new housing.
"We are trying to find assistance for these residents. This tragic situation appears to be of no fault of their own. Of course, the alternative is very bad as well. Leaving someone in a manufactured home that is an identified fire hazard can lead to a different sort of tragedy that is far worse than temporary displacement. Just recently, we have seen fatal mobile home fires in a neighboring county."
According to WTOL 11 meteorologists, Defiance is expecting four or more inches of snow on Friday, Jan. 19, the day demolition is set to begin.
O'Donnell said it will be up to contractors as to whether or not they will begin demolition in those conditions.
Murray said she is still not sure where she and her three kids will go.
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