PORTLAND, Ore. — A Northeast Portland man returned from a months-long getaway to find unwelcome residents in his apartment: squatters.
"I didn't sleep at all for the first 24 hours," said the man, who wants to remain anonymous.
The man, who we will call Andy, told KGW he locked up his apartment at Milepost 5 in Northeast Portland and left town in August.
"My mom triple fractured her elbow and I was called by the doctor," he said. "You need to come right now. She needs someone to take care of her."
Andy spent the rest of the year at his mom's side, and would have stayed longer had he not gotten a call from the managers of his apartment complex last week. They told Andy that somebody was living in his apartment.
"I don't know," he said. "It was like my brain flat lined. I was like call the police, nobody should be in my unit, I didn't give anybody my key."
Andy shared photos with KGW showing the trashed condition in which the squatters left his apartment. They got rid of thousands of dollars worth of Andy's possessions and turned the apartment into a drug den.
"It was everything I have ever owned in my life and it was gone, except for my bed and a small stack of books," he said.
Andy lost sentimental possessions like a jacket belonging to his late father and precious photos of a friend who passed. All of it vanished in what is believed to be the two weeks the squatters lived in the apartment.
"I was just trying to help my mom," he said. "This all happened because I was trying to help my mom."
Police confirmed there has been one arrest in the case, and said officers are looking for more suspects. Andy hopes they are captured and jailed.
"Just for the safety of my neighbors," he said. "These were clearly serial thieves."
Andy says he recently forgot to renew his renters insurance so he needs help getting back on his feet. A GoFundMe has been established to assist.
RELATED: Do squatters have rights in Oregon?
Correction: A frame in the video in the media player incorrectly shows the front door and sign of the Milepost 5 lofts condominium building. The building where this incident happened is Milepost 5 studios next door.