CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Deputies serve eviction notice to wrong home

LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. (BAY NEWS 9) - A doorbell camera stopped an error that could have locked a woman out of her home.

Deputies from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in Florida were attempting to serve an eviction notice, but it turns out they weren’t at the right house.

Jennifer Michele has been living in her Land O’ Lakes neighborhood for 13 years.

Michele said she knows everyone in her community, but last Thursday she had some unexpected visitors while she was away at her mother’s home.

“Whenever somebody rings the doorbell, you actually get a notification,” Michele said about her front door Ring camera.

The camera captured video of Pasco County deputies trying to serve an eviction and a locksmith, who had already started drilling a hole in her lock, only they were at the wrong house.

After getting the notification, Michele spoke with the officers through the Ring camera.

“As soon as I said my name to the police officers, they realized that they were at the wrong house,” Michele said.

The eviction was meant for a neighboring home.

“We do apologize. We have the wrong house. It’s the next-door neighbor’s,” one of the deputies said.

She rushed home to talk to deputies in person.

“One of the first things I asked them was who was responsible for reading the numbers on the house. The police officer told me that they all are,” she said.

She said she was stunned by the simple mistake that could have cost her family everything.

“This is what made me angry at that moment, is if I didn’t catch it on my Ring, then I would have got home from my mom’s doctor’s appointment, I would have got home from lunch, and my key wouldn’t go in and I would have no idea why,” Michele said.

She posted the video on TikTok, and it now has more than five million views.

“Like I don’t have any hatred toward anybody. I get that it was a mistake; mistakes happen. It was a big mistake to make,” Michele said.

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating how the error occurred.

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