Two men were taken into custody by Orange County deputies Tuesday night after deputies blocked off streets near The Marquee, formerly Sterling Central, for about three hours.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office said the two men taken from the residence on Khayyam Ave. had been squatting there.
Lt. Dennis Ela said the home is a bank-owned property and when a representative from the bank came to check on the residence, the representative noticed the real-estate lock box had been removed and locks had been changed.
Deputies were heard repetitively asking the suspects to come out of the residence with their hands up. After deputies broke down the door of the residence, the suspects started yelling at deputies.
“You broke down my door. You have no right to be here. You’re breaking the law,” one of the suspects shouted from the house.
Deputies responded by continuing to ask the suspect to vacate the property with their hands up, but the suspect continued to yell to deputies that they were breaking the law.
Ela said after asking the suspects to come out of the property for about three hours, deputies entered the home. The two men who were inside the bank-owned property were taken into custody.
Orange County deputies closed off access to parts of the area in response to the incident and told residents to stay away from the property in case the suspects had weapons.
“For our safety we took proactive measures and it made it look like a bigger deal,” Ela said. “We don’t know them, who they are or if they had any weapons.”
Ela said both men had fake identification but had IDs similar to those part of the sovereign citizen movement, which Ela said is a national group of individuals who don’t answer to recreational government and believe it is illegitimate.
