A south Fulton Georgia candidate for Senate was recently charged with burglary after she re-entered a home she was evicted from days ago. Police claim Linda Pritchett was evicted from her home in the beginning of September but decided to go back in after Fulton county sheriffs took possession of her home.
According to a South Fulton police report, an officer was “flagged down by a citizen” on Aug. 31 “in reference to an owner versus tenant dispute.” Four days later, the police department took the Senate candidate into custody.
Pritchett is running in a special Democratic primary on Nov. 3 to replace Sen. Nikema Williams, an Atlanta Democrat running for Congress. Senate District 39 covers parts of Fulton County.
Pritchett said she was “maliciously prosecuted and charged excessively.” She says the house was wrongfully foreclosed, pointing to a 2018 lawsuit where she claims Main Street Renewal and several other companies took back the home prematurely without giving her room to dispute the action.
The company alleged Pritchett breached a contract by failing to pay more than $33,000 she owed in back rent by an agreed-upon date in February of this year. A judge signed an order giving Main Street Renewal the right to evict Pritchett on May 13. She was appealing when Fulton County sheriff’s deputies put her out on Aug. 27
Main Street Renewal said when a representative went to clean the home, “(Pritchett) had broken back into the property and moved (her) possessions back inside.”
The candidate decided to move back in even though a magistrate judge issued a vacate order. Pritchett is running to fill District 39th senate seat formally held by State Senator Nikema Williams, who is running in congressional 5th district once held by the late congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.
Candidate Pritchett released a statement following her arrest:
You can let your viewers know that regardless of what’s being reported the truth is we are locked out during Covid and prevented from getting all our belongings and our pet is in there and we don’t know his condition.
The CDC has put a moratorium on evictions until the end of the year for people who are suffering financial hardships due to the Covid19 pandemic.
Our guess is if she can in fact show she has suffered hardship due to the pandemic that would be an affirmative defense to the charge of Burglary.
Source: AP
