FOREST GROVE, Ore ... Several times a day Jennifer Madison walks her little dog up and down 19th Avenue in Forest Grove.
"You don't have a lot of noise," said Madison. "Everything is clean."
Everything is clean except for an abandoned home. Its paint is peeling and trash can be seen piling up in a window, but that is just the beginning.
"I've seen people doing drugs," said Madison. "I've seen a man ... I was walking my dog and he was sitting in the garage and he had a needle in his arm."
The problems first surfaced in March. Photos obtained from the Forest Grove Police Department show garbage and graffiti on the side of the house. Authorities say transients have been squatting in the home.
"It's illegal for them to be there cause they don't have the right to be in there," said Captain Aaron Ashbaugh. "But it makes it harder to prosecute if we don't have a victim."
Ashbaugh says there is no victim because there is no homeowner. He says the house is in foreclosure.
"We had a lot of issues trying to contact the bank," said Ashbaugh. "Initially had trouble getting cooperation, not so much as they're refusing to cooperate, but it was hard to find someone we could talk to."
For now all officers can do is kick out any squatters, if they see them.
"It's very hard," said Madison. "I have a handicapped daughter and we take walks around the neighborhood ... she has to see it."
Madison says that is not acceptable. She wants to see the house flipped sooner rather than later.
"It does have potential."
