Beverly Squatter Cops Guilty Plea, Sentenced to 45 Months in Prison

Arshad Thomas, 27 | Cook County Sheriff's Office

A Cook County judge sentenced a man to 45 months in the Illinois Department of Corrections after he pleaded guilty to illegally occupying and renting out a foreclosed property in the Beverly neighborhood last year.

Arshad Thomas, 27, pled guilty to one count of burglary in connection with a property in the 1600 block of West 106th Street, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office announced.

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Thomas is one of four men charged last July in a real estate scam in which numerous foreclosed properties were illegally occupied and rented out in neighborhoods throughout Chicago. Thomas is the son of Raymond Trimble, who was also arrested and charged in the scheme. Father and son had been on the lam until their arrests last December.

Prosecutors said that Thomas and the other men capitalized on mortgage foreclosures in various city neighborhoods. The four are said to have engaged in pattern of illegal activity in which they unlawfully claimed the foreclosed or vacant properties as their own. The men either moved into the home themselves, or rented it out to a third party and acted as landlord.

Thomas was alleged to have unlawfully entered three different properties, changed the locks, and resided in the homes without the authority of the lawful owners, the state’s attorney’s office said.

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The four men identify themselves as Sovereign Moors, an anti-government group that rejects government and law enforcement from having any authority over them.

The cases against Trimble and his alleged co-horts, Terrez Moore and David Farr, are pending, all of whom face multiple felony counts of theft, burglary and financial institution criminal charges.

Authorities said the four men were tied together, but kept their unlawful business dealings separate. The men are believed to have illegally occupied and rented out an estimated 14 foreclosed homes in the Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods.

Thomas entered his plea at a hearing today at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago before Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan who handed down the 45-month prison sentence.

“These cases are extremely complex; our community has been well represented by a fantastic team of law enforcement professionals,” Ald. Matt O’Shea said in an email blast to residents.

The investigation was conducted by the Chicago Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit with assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Inspector General’s Office, the Chicago Office of the FBI, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Cook County Recorder of Deeds Office and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Financial Crimes Unit.