The Stanislaus County sheriff's deputies tasked with evicting renters who have stopped paying their rent and homeowners who've lost their homes to foreclosure confront people at their most vulnerable.
"A lot of them, they have lost their jobs, their marriages, their cars," said Sgt. Manuel Martinez Jr., who runs the Sheriff's Department's civil division, whose deputies serve eviction notices.
"They are at the end financially," Martinez said, "and they have no place to go. We tell them we are sorry, but the judge issued the order and you need to leave."
Sheriff's deputy Robert Paris and another man were killed Thursday while serving an eviction notice in Modesto.
Typically, the worst treatment received by deputies, locksmiths and property owners is getting cussed out by tenants or former homeowners. Martinez said the only other shooting he could recall was 10 years ago in west Modesto when a landlord's son was shot in the hand during an eviction.
Martinez said it can take three to five months to evict someone. The process includes a property owner filing court papers called a complaint for unlawful detainer. If a judge grants the unlawful detainer, a notice is posted giving the tenants or former homeowners five days to leave.
After the five days, the sheriff's deputies and property owners carry out the eviction. Martinez said that when he took over the civil division nearly four years ago, the home would be empty 70 percent to 80 percent of the time when the deputies showed up. But now, Martinez said, the homes are occupied 70 percent of the time.
"That's gone up substantially," he said. "We find single people, families. We refer them to The Salvation Army, the Gospel Mission. Anyone who can help them."
But Martinez said the number of evictions conducted by deputies has dropped steadily, from 16 to 19 a day nearly four years ago to nine to 11 today. He said that could be because the economy has gotten better or because banks are more likely to carry out evictions and not pay the Sheriff's Department to carry out an eviction.
He said banks have had success getting foreclosed homeowners to leave by offering them money, a technique known as "cash for keys."
Martinez said about 30 percent of the evictions he and his deputies do are for foreclosures and the rest involve renters.
Landlord's Eviction Service owner Bruce Doerksen said he has not seen a rise in evictions. He said his Modesto-based business did 735 residential evictions in 2005, compared with 775 residential evictions last year.
But he said renters now are more likely to challenge the unlawful detainer process, which can keep them in their homes a little longer.
"That is the biggest difference we've seen in the last year," he said, "is the number of contested notices filed by the tenant. Unfortunately, the end result is often the same. And it can be a stalling tactic because it draws the process out four or five weeks."
Bee staff writer Kevin Valine can be reached at [email protected] or (209) 578-2316.
Copyright 2012 - The Modesto Bee, Calif.
