Officers continue to combat the issue of squatters setting up housekeeping in empty houses. Around 3 pm, a woman called Portsmouth Police to ask to talk to an officer about a squatter on a vacant property she owned on Holcomb Alley
Officers confirmed that the property was on the condemned list and headed to the scene. They found a man on the property and took him into custody for criminal trespass.
Police also charged Jeffrey Howard with probation violation and booked him into the Scioto County Jail. Howard was arrested for theft in November of last year and again in December on the same charge. He pleaded no contest and was ordered to stay out of Aldi and Speedway. The court sentenced him to a suspended 180-day jail sentence.
At the time, Howard listed his address as homeless.
