North Gwinnett News

After spending the last year deployed in Poland, soldier Duncan Fowler returned to find his home in Decatur had been overtaken by squatters.

Fowler was expecting to officially finish his deployment in approximately a week and was planning on returning to Decatur, he said in a recent report by FOX 5 Atlanta.

"In the last two years, I've only been home for about eight weeks," Fowler told FOX 5 Atlanta. "And then the chance I finally get to go home, I don't have an actual house to go to."

Fowler said he has tried to ask the individuals to leave his home, but his requests have been refused, the report said. While he stated DeKalb County police have been called to the home four times, he was told officers are not able to remove the squatters. Rather, they have been able to identify the names of some of the individuals living at the home, including one who Fowler said has an extensive criminal record. 

Fowler's property manager first discovered the squatters and estimated they moved in some time late last year, the report said. Though Fowler had rented his house out at one point in time, the individuals living there now are not supposed to be there. 

Fowler said he has been told he will have to go through the legal process to remove the squatters from the property, the report said. A local attorney told FOX 5 that Georgia residents must go through an eviction proceeding in order to establish that squatters have no right to be in the home. As a result, Fowler said he will likely be without a home for months as backlogged court systems make it difficult to set a court date.