FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – A Lauderhill Police officer was arrested on Tuesday after being accused by investigators of taking possession of a dead man\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
Thirty-five-year-old Brian Louis Sguros was put behind bars and was accused of official misconduct after an alleged adverse possession scheme.<\/p>\n
The arrest happened after an investigation that lasted several months.<\/p>\n
The incident began with a welfare check in July 2022 at a home owned by Dennis Ionis West, who reportedly hadn\u2019t been seen by a neighbor in some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a week, week and a half. He was taking groceries out of his car, and he never came back to close the door or take the rest of the groceries out, \u201d said Naomi, a neighbor who called 911 following West\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n
Naomi said she was worried about West, who she said lived alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey knocked, no answer. The sergeant came, the sergeant opened the front door, and his body was at the front door,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sguros was one of the officers who responded to the welfare check, and in the months following West\u2019s death, investigators said that he illegally took possession of West\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said that that was his friend, and the friend gave him the house before he passed away,\u201d said Naomi.<\/p>\n
She claimed that Sguros regularly came over and chatted with her and her family, and she said he planned to rent out the home as an Airbnb.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he was working on the house for a good while, and tore down everything on the inside, put up new stuff and everything,\u201d she said. \u201cCome to find out that he wasn\u2019t a part of anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an arrest report, Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office investigators said that Sguros, \u201c\u2026paid the taxes and utilities at the home in West\u2019s name [\u2026] and used West\u2019s identification\u2026 to get the city of Lauderhill to issue a permit to facilitate repairs\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
They also said that Sguros \u201calso forged West\u2019s signature on the permit\u2026\u201d and \u201cfiled paperwork with [Broward County Property Appraiser] in Feb. 2025 stating his possession of the property dated back to Aug. 2022, just weeks after West\u2019s death\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Sguros is now behind bars at the Broward County Main Jail as of Tuesday afternoon, and is expected to appear before a judge on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Lauderhill Police Department officials said that he is on administrative leave without pay, pending the outcome of the case.<\/p>\n
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