BALTIMORE (WBFF) — When professor Ze Wang returned from a winter vacation in early January, he expected to unlock his townhome in Southwest Baltimore’s Pigtown neighborhood and resume his weekly teaching routine.
His key didn’t work.
“I was totally shocked,” said Wang, a University of Maryland School of Medicine professor.
Moments later, standing outside his own home, Wang watched strangers unload belongings in his garage – and show police what he says was a fake lease.
Ze Wang, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said his home was taken over by squatters for nearly 59 days in late December 2025. (Zackary Lang/Spotlight on Maryland)
Wang’s case highlights a growing legal gray area in Maryland. When someone presents a lease, even one a homeowner insists is fraudulent, police typically treat the situation as a civil landlord-tenant dispute rather than criminal trespass or fraud.
That classification can leave property owners locked out for weeks or months while courts sort it out.
Wang said he was homeless – and sometimes sleeping in his college office – for 59 days.
Although the Maryland Senate has passed legislation that would make the creation or use of a fraudulent lease a felony, the bill is now stalled in the House Judiciary Committee, leaving homeowners like Wang stuck in limbo.
Wang told Spotlight on Maryland that he called 911 on Jan. 7 as soon as the key to his house didn’t work and he spotted signs of forced entry. He then drove to the rear of the home and used his garage door opener.
As the garage door rolled up, he saw a white vehicle with a paper Virginia tag and strangers unloading belongings from their car into his house.
“Before the police came, the woman [came] out, and she knocked on my window,” Wang said. “[She said] ‘We can talk.’”
I said, ‘No, no, you shouldn’t be here, this is my house,” Wang said.
When Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers arrived, Wang said the woman showed them a lease agreement on her phone. The document was signed by someone identified as “Samuel.”
University of Maryland School of Medicine monument sign in Baltimore on Monday, February 23, 2026. (Zackary Lang/Spotlight on Maryland)
“I said, ‘This is a fake lease. I don’t know Samuel, at all, and I’m not Samuel, and I don’t know this woman, so everything is fake,’” Wang told Spotlight on Maryland during a Zoom interview on Monday.
Wang said he pointed officers to what he described as signs of forced entry, including a removed deadbolt casing found in the bushes and a damaged window. These items were still present when Spotlight on Maryland visited the property on Monday.
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According to Wang, officers left after a lease was presented, despite his pleas for help. With nowhere to go and being scheduled to teach first thing the next morning, Wang spent the next several nights sleeping in his college office.
Text messages Wang shared with Spotlight on Maryland show a demand for $5,000 in cash to vacate the property.
When asked whether he thought this was equivalent to extortion, Wang said, “Yeah, I definitely think this is intentional. It’s a plan.”
Wang wrote the sender that he felt he was a victim, after already noticing damage to his property when police responded to his first call. From the doorway, Wang said he saw multiple holes punched into the entryway’s wall and a broken garage entry door frame.
“The victim we are both victims in this situation,” the sender replied to Wang.
After Wang filed his initial wrongful detainer lawsuit with the Baltimore City District Court in Maryland, he learned that a female squatter provided a false name.
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A cellphone photo taken by Wang of the squatter inside his garage in January shows a woman with a neck tattoo.
The number Wang shared for the squatter was disconnected on Wednesday when Spotlight on Maryland tried to reach her. Other publicly available numbers were also disconnected.
Meanwhile, despite an ongoing wrongful detainer lawsuit, the squatters left the home over the weekend, nearly two months after Wang first discovered them there.
Spotlight on Maryland toured the property on Monday, days after the squatters vacated it. Contractors were already on site, mitigating damage and making repairs.
Wang said contractors estimate the cost of repairs will exceed $80,000.
Portions of a Baltimore home’s ceiling caved in, according to contractors, after a squatter seized the house for nearly two months. (Zackary Lang/Spotlight on Maryland)
A section of the ceiling on the home’s second floor collapsed. Contractors said they traced the damage to a clogged toilet on the third floor, which allowed water to flow downward through multiple levels into the basement.
Rooms were filled with debris and discarded items, including female clothing, socks, underwear, children’s shoes, toddler toys and multiple used pregnancy tests. Dozens of soiled baby diapers were found in two of the property’s upper bedrooms.
In a separate room, a square table and sections of carpet and wall surfaces were stained with a thick substance that looked and smelled like feces. A strong odor of urine was also present.
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A medical pamphlet was left near an air vent in the room.
“Do you think your child has autism?” the pamphlet reads. “Get tested today by a specialist!”
Squatters left soiled diapers and a table covered in what smelled and looked like feces in a Baltimore home taken over. (Zackary Lang/Spotlight on Maryland)
Alcohol bottles, burnt marijuana cigarettes and other drug paraphernalia were visible in the master bedroom.
Wang said he will continue to advance repairs on his house in hopes of selling it soon.
Wang’s squatter instance comes as Maryland lawmakers are debating changes to state law addressing fraudulent leases and alleged online networks that connect people to homes to squat in for a one-time fee.
Del. J. Sandy Bartlett, D-Anne Arundel County, the newly appointed chair of the House Judiciary Committee, was asked by Spotlight on Maryland on Tuesday during an unrelated news conference about a specific bill that would make the creation or use of a fraudulent lease a felony.
The Maryland Senate passed a version of the legislation last week by a 37-5 vote, and both the House and Senate versions are now stalled in Bartlett’s committee.
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The Judiciary Committee chair said her committee has launched a “workgroup” to review multiple squatter bills addressing proof of property ownership, fraudulent leases and individuals advertising housing they do not control. Bartlett was asked by Spotlight on Maryland whether squatter legislation will make it to the House floor for final passage.
“I can’t make that commitment because there are 140 other people who serve in this body, but I will make the commitment that we are working on, substantially reviewing it, and we are hoping to get something out of Judiciary, and then it’s up to the body,” Bartlett said.
Have you experienced or have direct knowledge about squatting or unauthorized occupancy occurring in Maryland? Do you have a tip related to this story? Send news tips to gmcollins@sbgtv.com or contact Spotlight on Maryland’s hotline at (410) 467-4670.
Follow Gary Collins on X and Instagram. Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C., and The Baltimore Sun.
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