Local Man Worked the System to Rent Out Homes He Didn’t Own

Occasionally there are legitimate reasons to contest ownership of property in court. Unfortunately, there are few ways to stop someone using the courts to claim ownership of something they have no rights to. Local man Corey Javon Williams figured that out and after years is finally being punished.

He used LIENS, a piece of paper granted by a court allowing someone to hold on to something they don't own until the owner repays a debt. Because it can take a long time for courts to figure out that no debt is owed, the legal tool allows someone to hold onto property that is not theirs for several months or years.

If the real owner can't afford a lawyer to prove their side, they sometimes are robbed of their property.

Across the country travelling business  people, long-distance landlords and returning service members sometimes find strangers living in their homes claiming possession rights with bogus liens.

Williams would file liens on vacant Kennewick homes involved in bankruptcies (and once did it with a 2015 Ford Mustang), then break in, change the locks, and rent them out while he was in possession. He sometimes went by Corey Pugh.

Finally charged with theft, Williams was convicted guilty in February and now faces jail time.