One arrested when police clear squatters from vacant Athens property

1375 Spring Valley Road in Athens

By Joe Johnson

Police on Thursday arrested one of two homeless people who were squatting on vacant property in eastern Athens-Clarke County.

Dustin Sanford England, 43, was taken into custody because there was an arrest warrant on file in Banks County charging him with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to police.

Dustin Sanford England

His companion, 40-year-old Victoria Elena Guerra, was was given a verbal warning for criminal trespass and released, police said.

The incident occurred on Thursday when officers went to a property on Spring Valley Road to investigate a complaint that people were trespassing there and littering the property with trash.

An incident report noted that when the officers arrived they found there a fire burning behind a brick house and saw someone in a second-floor window of a barn-like structure.

Guerra came out when ordered to by the officers, and England was arrested after he attempted to hide.

One of the officers recognized the pair from a previous encounter at a different vacant property, according the police report.

England was detained at the local jail until deputies from Banks County took custody of him on Friday.

He has a criminal history in Athens, including a 2017 conviction in a burglary case for which he completed probation two years ago.

Guerra has been previously arrested for felony shoplifting and misdemeanor obstruction, records show.