Baltimore homeowner confronts suspected squatter in East Baltimore rowhome

Robert “Bobby” Williams found a suspected squatter inside his vacant East Baltimore rowhome on the 2900 block of McElderry Street, blocks from Johns Hopkins Hospital, after noticing a neon flicker in an upstairs window. Inside the master suite, Williams found a newly assembled bed, women’s lingerie and flashing “disco” lights attached to the headboard, then confronted the occupant and ordered the person out.

The confrontation was recorded and posted on Instagram. Williams called the episode “organized crime” and said squatting was becoming more organized.

Gov. Wes Moore signed two anti-squatting bills into law in May 2026, including one that makes the manufacture or possession of a fraudulent lease a felony. State Sen. Ron Watson, a Democrat from Prince George’s County, said the old penalties were too weak for cases involving high-value property, saying a million-dollar property should not carry only a small fine.

The legislative push followed disputes from Baltimore to Bethesda. In one Baltimore case, University of Maryland School of Medicine professor Ze Wang said strangers moved into his home while he was away, leaving him displaced for 59 days and facing more than $80,000 in damages. In another case, a $2.3 million Bethesda home was occupied for more than nine months before Tamieka Goode was convicted in Montgomery County District Court of burglary and breaking and entering.

Maryland law still leaves owners with a wrongful detainer action in District Court to remove an unauthorized occupant, while the state’s adverse possession statute gives a 20-year period before someone can try to claim ownership through long-term possession. Baltimore Police also maintain a policy titled Squatters and Property Fraud Schemes.