Marcia and Carlon Lee spent months fighting to get an alleged squatter out of their South Side Chicago home. Now that the house is finally theirs again, a foreclosure notice has landed on top of the repair bills, according to ABC7 Chicago’s reporting this week.
The couple’s ordeal began in early 2025, when they discovered someone had moved into their vacant South Side property without permission. They were locked out of their own house for roughly a month before ABC7’s I-Team got involved and police arrested a woman identified as Shermaine Powell-Gillard on May 1, 2025. She was booked on burglary, forgery, obstructing identification and criminal residential trespassing charges after allegedly presenting forged mortgage paperwork to claim she owned the home. Powell-Gillard later pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to 24 months of probation and 50 hours of community service, per ABC7’s update this week.
Winning the house back, then almost losing it anyway
Getting the alleged squatter out did not end the Lees’ problems. When they finally regained access, they found the home had been torn apart inside, leaving them with repair costs on top of mortgage payments they had missed while locked out and fighting to reclaim the property. Those combined costs were enough to trigger a foreclosure filing from lender Silver Hill Capital, ABC7 reported Sept. 10. Marcia Lee now says she plans to file for bankruptcy in an attempt to hold onto the house.
- Squatting reported in early 2025; couple locked out roughly a month
- Alleged squatter Shermaine Powell-Gillard arrested May 1, 2025 on burglary, forgery and trespassing charges
- Powell-Gillard later pleaded guilty to theft; sentenced to 24 months probation, 50 hours community service
- Home found destroyed after Lees regained access; missed payments followed
- Foreclosure notice filed by lender Silver Hill Capital, reported Sept. 10, 2026
The case that helped change Illinois law
The Lees’ fight to get their home back became part of the record lawmakers pointed to while pushing to close a gap in how Illinois handles squatters. State Rep. La Shawn Ford worked on legislation that would let police remove unauthorized occupants once ownership is verified, rather than forcing owners through the full civil eviction process, according to ABC7’s earlier coverage of the case.
That effort became SB1563, which Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law, taking effect Jan. 1, 2026. The bill clarifies that civil eviction procedures do not stop police from enforcing trespassing law once a homeowner can demonstrate ownership. “This outdated eviction law has treated squatters the same as tenants, leaving property owners in limbo and tying the hands of law enforcement,” Pritzker said in the official announcement. State Sen. Lakesia Collins, a sponsor of the bill, said in the same release: “Squatters are a problem, and no one should have to get an eviction notice to remove them from their home.” State Rep. Jawaharial Williams added that the law “gives officers the clarity they need to act decisively and remove unlawful squatters.”
For the Lees, the new law arrived too late to prevent the financial fallout of their own case. Their home sat vacant and occupied long enough, and the resulting damage was severe enough, that clearing the squatter out turned out to be only the first of two fights to keep the house.
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