I totally stole a house. A nice one! It’s grand larceny, unless it’s a house in Portland. Then it’s a civil matter, not even a crime. ☺️ pic.twitter.com/fqUFQRFZdH
— George McCleary (@McClearyRE) February 13, 2024
A Portland real estate investor has revealed he made a viral video claiming he stole a house to show how easy it is for criminals to operate in the crime-ridden progressive city.
George McCleary posted a video to TikTok titled “I stole a house” which was swiftly removed from the platform, but not before it had been picked up and reposted on X.
In the satirical clip Mr McCleary goes through his step-by-step “free house” process, beginning with finding a house that is available for rent and breaking into its lockbox to get the keys.
He then goes on to say that he forged documents to make it look like he had a lease agreement, used those to get utility bills in his name, and then moved in.
“This is my house now,” he said he told the owner when she showed up to try and evict him. And because of the forged documents, the police ruled it a civil matter, forcing the landlord to sue him.
He then says he contacted a tenant advocacy group who gave him a pro bono lawyer.
“Finally, the owner decided it would be cheaper to just give me a chunk of cash to leave rather than continue to pay for the lawyer,” he said in the video.
“So she writes me a cheque for $10K and I move out.”
He says he ended up with nine months’ free rent, working out to a total profit of $37,000.
“I always thought that stealing was wrong but turns out, if you steal a house, it’s not even against the law here. So this couldn’t have worked out any better. Thanks, Portland!” he says at the end of the clip.
The video generated thousands of angry responses, some of which McCleary replied to, and later called those who took the video seriously “irredeemably dense”.
“I didn’t actually steal a house. The video is satire demonstrating the ease with which criminals can unlawfully occupy your property, steal tens of thousands of dollars from you, and never be charged with a crime. I’m very thankful the video has gotten the traction that it has,” he said.
Rampant crime and homelessness in the Democrat-run city, once known as the “Jewel of the West Coast”, has seen more then 2,600 businesses flee the downtown since 2019, due to lax bail laws and defund the police efforts.
Between 2020 and 2021 alone the city lost $1 billion when more than 14,000 residents left Multnomah County, where Portland is located. There had been 15 years of consecutive growth before that.
At the same time the city broke its homicide record in 2021 and again in 2022, and homelessness increased 50% from 2019 to 2022.
