Man arrested for allegedly squatting in Hilton Head short-term rental home
A man has been charged with squatting inside a short-term rental home on Hilton Head Island, according to police.
Mario Anthony Brown, 25, of Hilton Head, was charged Sunday afternoon with first-degree burglary, inmate rosters show. Court records indicate he was given a $100,000 cash bond but had not posted bail as of Tuesday afternoon.
The owner of the rental property on Sea Front Lane was checking on the home Sunday morning when she found Brown allegedly standing inside one of the bedrooms, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Daniel Allen.
The house showed signs of someone having stayed there, Allen said, and several food items had been taken. Brown’s arrest warrant says the home’s surveillance system had captured him entering the rental “during the night.”
Man allegedly squatted in empty home
Deputies did not note signs of forced entry, Allen said. He added that Brown was believed to have “found an empty (residence) and was squatting in there.”
Brown had left the home by the time deputies arrived, but police found him “walking off the property” and arrested him, according to the arrest warrant.
Under South Carolina law, first-degree burglary is a felony punishable by life in prison.
Beaufort County court records show Brown pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary in December 2022 and received a three-year probation sentence. He also had convictions for giving false information to law enforcement, fleeing police and shoplifting.
Sea Front Lane is located in the Burkes Beach neighborhood, boasting oceanfront views and a short walk to the shoreline. Eight of the road’s 11 addresses are registered as short-term rentals, according to the Town of Hilton Head Island’s interactive dashboard.
Other rentals ransacked in Beaufort County
Allen said Brown’s case was not connected to a string of home burglaries in northern Beaufort County in late January and early February, in which liquor, power tools, firearms and other valuables were reported stolen by homeowners.
Surveillance video released by police last week showed a group of masked people digging through a home and peering through car windows during the spree of break-ins on St. Helena and Lady’s islands. Many of the residences were rentals, Allen said, which means reports of the burglaries have come slowly “as neighbors have talked to other neighbors” and learned their properties were targeted.
