Florida police officer allegedly took over dead mans home, posed as him for 4 years before being caught

A Florida police officer is accused of illegally taking over a dead man’s home, using his identity and renovating the residence over a span of four years, only to be caught when he sued the owner’s heirs for reimbursement for the renovations.Lauderhill Police officer Brian Louis Sguros was arrested Tuesday and accused of fraud and falsifying official documents as a public servant in his years-long con after he took over the South Florida house owned by Dennis Ionis West.Sguros, 35, was one of two officers who responded to a welfare check at West’s home on July 11, 2022, after a neighbor called 911 concerned for their 71-year-old neighbor they hadn’t seen in over a week, according to WPLG.West was found dead inside his front entrance, with officials ruling his death natural, caused by cardiovascular disease, the outlet reported.During the post-mortem exams on West, Sguros claimed to have been friends with the elderly homeowner and offered to arrange a funeral service for him if no family members were found.“Sguros represented himself to the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office as West’s friend, although there is no indication he knew West, and stated that West had no living family, which was untrue,” the Broward Sheriff’s Office alleged, according to the South Florida SunSentinel.Weeks later, on Aug.1, Sguros took over possession of West’s house without any legal authority, later admitting to it in a sworn court document.Sguros claimed he poured over $214,000 of his own money into refurbishing the crumbling home in an effort to protect it from criminal activity and squatters, according to WPLG.The renovation, which included tearing down rotten boards and cleaning the home, improved the property value to about $500,000.However, Sguros is accused of using West’s identity to get permits for an $8,000 project to replace windows and doors.Sguros’ paperwork listed West as the living owner and included the deceased man’s driver’s license and...