JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The fourth man charged in connection with taking over vacant homes, either to live in themselves or to rent them out to others, was arrested last Thursday night on a grand theft warrant.
Marcellous Dunbar has since been released on bail.
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Warren Lee, 46, who ran for mayor last spring, was charged with grand theft, scheme to defraud and acting as a real estate agent without a license.
Police called Lee the mastermind of the scheme to take over homes and rent them to others.
Dunbar, 31, who was previously charged with grand theft after being found living in a $500,000 Oakleaf Plantation home in Clay County, also faces other charges in the five Jacksonville cases.
State Attorney Angela Corey said Dunbar threatened Channel 4 reporter Tarik Minor, claiming the reporter was trespassing the rightful owner of the Oakleaf house to get off the property, and the homeowner sought the help of Clay County deputies for protection when moving in.
In Channel 4's coverage of Dunbar and Lee last year, they claimed they were doing this to help homeless people or veterans.
Also arrested in the Jacksonville cases were Cleveland Stephens and Rhonda Johnson.
"These people simply moved into these vacant residences and claimed them as their own, and then became the landlord of these residences," Sheriff John Rutherford said at a news conference last week. "The phenomenon of literally stealing someone's house and either living there or renting it out is pretty rare."
The sheriff said the investigation began five months ago when neighbors of the homes involved became suspicious and contacted authorities.
Dunbar claimed to Channel 4 last year that he legally took over the property through the controversial Florida statute of adverse possession, which allows change of ownership to an abandoned home. Authorities said he was not in legal possession of the home, which had just been sold to a Navy family.
Authorities said Dunbar left the home trashed.
Police said all four were members of the Fishers of Men World Harvest Church, of which Dunbar was pastor. One of those arrested told a detective that God "wanted them to have the property."
In an interview with Channel 4 last fall, Lee distanced himself from Dunbar.
"I have absolutely nothing to do with what Mr. Dunbar is doing or what he has done," Lee said.