Squatting suspect makes court appearance

A man accused of squatting on a military family's Oakleaf plantation home was in court Wednesday

Marcellous Dunbar says he wanted to help the homeless.  Clay county isn't looking at it in quite that light, charging Dunbar with burglary and grand theft.  Dunbar's lawyer Reginal Estell tells channel 4 Marcellous went through all the right channels.

"What he did was proper.  He did not know that the home was sold at the time he had done it.  No paperwork had been filed.  Everything he saw, of record, was appropriate for him to take the action he took."

He moved into the home under a real estate law called adverse possession, which allows abandoned homes to be commandeered so long as the inhabitant pays property taxes.  Dunbar tells channel 4 he's been given a bad rap by the media throughout this whole process.

"I do believe that the media has been unfair throughout this whole ordeal.  My integrity has been questioned.  Marcellous Dunbar is not a home thief."

Dunbar's lawyer entered a not guilty plea on the charges.