Florida Man Falls Behind On Mortgage, So Lender Shreds His Wife's Wedding Gown, Trashes Home

Chris Boudreau of Brooksville, Florida fell behind on his mortgage. It's not an uncommon tale in Florida right now. What is uncommon is the tactics his mortgage lender took to rectify the situation. 21 Mortgage Corporation of Knoxville, Tennessee hired a local company to come into his house, trash his...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

July 1, 2011

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Chris Boudreau of Brooksville, Florida fell behind on his mortgage. It's not an uncommon tale in Florida right now. What is uncommon is the tactics his mortgage lender took to rectify the situation. 21 Mortgage Corporation of Knoxville, Tennessee hired a local company to come into his house, trash his belongings, and even shredded his wife's wedding gown into pieces before throwing them in a dumpster.

Boudreau has been away from home for a few weeks when he came back to find that almost everything he owned had been demolished. Though he was behind on his mortgage, his home wasn't even in foreclosure.

"Although Boudreau had fallen behind a bit in his mortgage, there were no foreclosure proceedings in effect," Boudreau's attorney, Tom Altman, told WTSP. "That means the people who trashed Boudreau's home and took his possessions should be arrested and prosecuted like common criminals."

The out-of-state mortgage company was apparently under the understanding that Florida's laws permitted such tactics, but Florida has very clear laws protecting home owners from such things.

Boudreau found no help from local Sheriff's Deputies, and will now suit 21 Mortgage for compensation.

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