[wwehurricane1]

Hello all. My name is Chris. I live in Arkansas. This is my first time using this site and it seems like a good place for advice.

My problem is this:

Me and my best friend signed a lease and moved into an apartment on August 1st of last year. My friend couldn't come up with enough money to cover his share of the money due up from ($475 for first months rent and $475 deposit) so I ended up covering almost all of it myself. By September, he had quit his job and had no income at all. Being my best friend, I let him stay and covered all the bills and rent on my own until he could find another job. In late September he signed up to join the Navy. He and I entered into a verbal agreement (to which I have witnesses) that I would cover the rent and utilites until he was shipped out and then he would send me money to cover bills while he was gone. He was originally scheduled to leave on March 6 of this year. In the mean time he was to try and find a job to at least help cover some of the costs, but was unable to find one. March 6 came around and his ship date had to be pushed back to September 10 because he got shingles and wasn't medically cleared to leave for the Navy yet. At this point, I really started pushing for him to get a job, but we still discussed the agreement we had made for him to send money when he DID leave to cover all the expenses incurred during this period. On May 15 he got a call from his recruiter that they had a spot open for him and he was set to leave on May 17, two days later. He and I sat down (with another friend present) and discussed, again, our agreement on the money that would be sent to me while he was away. He told me he was going to give his keys to his mother and that she would be stopping by on her way to work every two weeks to drop off about $250 to help cover bills and stuff. That's $500 per month he would be sending me. The next day, I went to the airport to say goodbye. He told me (with my sister present) that his mother would be coming by that Friday to discuss our monetary arrangements and that I should get my first "payment" the following Thursday. We had a tearful goodbye as I watched him board the plane and leave. The next day, I texted his mom to find out what time she was coming by to talk to me. She asked me what I was talking about and I mentioned the arrangements I had made with her son. She admitted that they had talked about helping me with rent and stuff (I saved the messages), but that she was not coming by to see me.
A week later, I went home from work and all of his belongings were gone and some of my stuff was missing as well. It turns out, he had made arrangements with his mother to come by the apartment while I wasn't home and without me knowing, and take all his stuff. Not only that, but apparently he had told our "friends" that he was no longer going to talk to me and did not intend on writing or calling me again. I contacted his mother to try to get my belongings back that she took. At first she refused, but after threatening police involvement to the other "friends" that had helped her, I got most of my stuff back. Now, as it turns out, there is an ashtray that belonged to my former roomates grandmother (deceased) and his mom wants the thing back. I told her that when I found it, I would give it to her, no problem. She left me a threatening voicemail (which I saved) telling me she was going to get her friend, the sherriff, to come help her go in my house and take everything that was ever given to me and my former roommate and anything else she saw that she decided was her son's. She told me she would "wipe out" my apartment if I didn't give her the ashtray.

Now that you have MOST of the story, my questions are these:

1. My former roommate is on the lease and never paid a dime for rent or utilities. Do I have a case against him if I were to take it to small claims? I figured it up to be about $3500 he owes me.

2. I got most of my stuff back from his mother's first entry into my house, but do I still have something against her for illegal entry?

3. I'm pretty sure that the law states that anything left in a residence for more than two weeks, automatically becomes the property of the home owner or the person living there. That would mean that everything that he left that she didn't take the first time around belongs to me, including her stupid ashtray. It's been over two weeks since he left. Am I correct on this?

4. Given all the threats and messages she sent to me, do I have a case for harassment? She's threatening to come into my house and steal things. Even if she brings the sherriff along, don't they have to have a warrant to enter my home?

5. What repercussions will my former roommate have to face since he's in the Navy?

6. Will the Navy cooperate with me in getting the information I need to file a claim? I have to have his address for them to send the claim to.

7. If the Navy doesn't cooperate, can I have the claim sent to his mother's house for her to give to him or would that count? If she decided not to give it to him, he wouldn't have a chance to answer the claim and I would either win by default, or the case would be thrown out since he wasn't served. I'm not sure about this one.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out here. I appreciate it.

[RichardBondMan]

I didn't ready your entire post as you said he/she joined the Navy, therefore, there probably is no legal recouse against him/her, however, you could simply address a letter to his/her commander and ask for restitution. Military personel are protected by the Soldiers and Sailors relief Act but maybe also ask an atty.

[Strength89]

Honestly, I think it's best that you drop it and walk away from the situation. With him being in the military now, you will have a pretty difficult time contacting him especially with the way his mother is acting.

You were naïve and believed a "best friend" so take this as a lesson learned and drop the situation.

$3500 is a lot of money to lose to someone so underserving but you can ALWAYS make another $3500. However, the time you spend and waste on inconsiderate, immature and unappreciating people, you will NEVER get back.

As frustrating as the situation is, your time is more valuable and important than the money/items you lost. Save yourself the trouble and move on and who cares if he doesn't contact you. He doesn't deserve you as a friend anyway.

Let karma hit him for you. =)

Good luck.