29°
Shanetta -- on the video-sharing app as @regblackgrl -- said she began getting letters from members of a sovereign citizens group who claimed ownership of her Ivy Street home in Newark, since purchasing and renovating it back in February.
Sometime last week, the men -- who identified as members of the Al Moroccan Empire -- broke into the house, changed the locks and hung a moorish flag in the window.
On June 17, Hubert A. John, 39, of Los Angeles, was arrested by members of a SWAT Team and charged with criminal mischief, burglary, criminal trespass and terroristic threats.
Shanetta said she's telling her story as a cautionary tale.
"It's bizarre and it's crazy," she said. "But it's real life."
Shanetta has been staying in a nearby apartment since purchasing her home in February, as the house has been under renovation.
She stopped by on Wednesday to meet a gas worker, who would be changing the old lines. When Shanetta went to unlock the door, she realized there was a new knob on it, she said on TikTok. The key wasn't going in.
The locks had been changed.
Shanetta called her contractor, her realtor and police. While waiting for the officers to arrive, she began asking neighbors if they saw anyone.
One of the neighbors said she met a man who made it seem as though he would be moving into the house, and she later saw him and another man holding an umbrella working on the side door.
Shanetta saw metal scraps all over the side of the house, apparently, from shaving down the knob.
That's when the full picture started to form for Shanetta, she said.
Shanetta decided to leave for the night and deal with the situation the next day, she said.
And so, she said, when she returned the next day with a locksmith, she noticed a car with two men inside, both staring at her.
"I got a weird feeling," she said in a TikTok video. "Those were probably the guys who broke in and changed the locks."
The men approached her -- one of them aggressively, Shanetta said.
"One looked me in the face and said, 'Can I help you?'" she recalled. "It’s like they were both trying to run up on me and intimidate me."
Shanetta told the men to get off her property, then called the police.
The men only argued with police, and claimed they had the paperwork that entitled them to the house.
Meanwhile, Shanetta was panicking.
"This guy [wasn't] backing down and the locksmith was confused," she said. "They got their papers and told me the house was their house with so much conviction."
Neighbors told Shanetta they saw six men in the backyard during the week.
Later that afternoon, Shanetta noticed that a man had locked himself inside and hung a red flag with a green star in the window.
"I had not been scared at all up until that point," she said. "He was staking his claim and making territory of my house. It seemed like a threat. He was ready to go to war for his house."
Eventually, a SWAT team arrived and began negotiations with John, Shanetta said.
Neighbors said they saw John pacing in the house -- all the while refusing to come out.
After about 30 or 40 minutes, authorities broke down the door of the home and carried John out "like a piece of plywood," Shanetta said.
Click here to watch the 48-part series.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hamilton Township and receive free news updates.
