thedrifter
05-30-07, 07:31 AM
Dad's in Iraq; family evicted
May 30, 2007
By TIM WAGNER Sun-times news group
AURORA -- A towering pile of personal belongings was stacked and covered with a plastic sheet in the front lawn at 435 W. Downer Place, where the Sfeir family was evicted Tuesday under the watch of reluctant officers from the Kane County Sheriff's Department.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jorge Sfeir -- the homeowner, husband and father of six -- is caring for wounded soldiers in Iraq, where the Army major serves as a physician. Sfeir is scheduled to return to Aurora by the end of June, according to his wife, Jenny Sfeir.
Jorge Sfeir, 57, who maintains a private gynecology practice on Lincoln Avenue in Aurora, has a long history of delinquencies -- and no one, including his family, is disputing that. Jorge Sfeir admitted Tuesday via cellular phone from Iraq that he hadn't paid his mortgage to GMAC Financial Services "for over a year," he said.
But neighbors and county deputies were upset that the home of a military man, currently away on active duty, was completely emptied by workers hired by GMAC.
Kane County Deputy Bill Gatske said he called Army and Marine Corps officials in a last-ditch effort to stymie the eviction.
"I tried getting anybody I could here to help them," Gatske said.
"I've been kind of weepy all day long," said neighbor Ray Anderson. "This tears my heart out. The man's in Iraq and they're kicking his butt out. They can at least wait until he gets back."
Not related to his service
Troops on active deployment are normally protected from foreclosure, but only if their financial delinquency is the result of their military service.
Sfeir is not entitled to that protection because his failure to pay his mortgage began long before the Army sent him overseas.
GMAC began foreclosure proceedings against Sfeir last year, and he was not deployed until March 10.
In April, a Kane County judge rejected a motion from Sfeir's lawyer that the foreclosure be delayed until the Army officer returned.
GMAC officials said they don't rush into foreclosures, which usually take more than a year before resulting in an eviction.
"It's always in the best interest of all parties to resolve these issues and keep people in their homes," said Toni Simonetti, GMAC spokeswoman. "But sometimes that's not possible."
Sfeir said he tried to make a deal with the company outside the court process but that the company was not interested.
"The company knew about it and I offered to make (payment) arrangements before I left for Iraq," he said. "They told me to go to hell, and that (the GMAC representative) didn't care."
Saving possessions
Jenny Sfeir said she began separating the family's most prized possessions and put them in storage, while the rest -- items such as television sets, chairs, a piano, a boxed-up artificial Christmas tree and bed frames -- lay beneath a plastic tarp in the grass.
By 3 p.m. Tuesday, scavengers had already begun picking through the items.
"Yesterday was Memorial Day and the family spent the day moving all their belongings, while their husband and father is in Iraq," Anderson said. "Is this the thanks they get?"
The Sfeirs have six children, three in the Marine Corps. One of the Marines is on duty in Iraq, and the other two have already served stints there.
Another daughter, Emily, is a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and is home on a break.
Different family members lived in the brick two-story, four-bedroom home at various times, said Charlotte Sfeir, the oldest child.
Jenny Sfeir said she spends about half the year in Aurora and the other half in Bolivia, where her elderly father is ill and her youngest daughter is completing high school.
Jenny Sfeir said she, Emily and Charlotte likely would stay in a hotel Tuesday night before looking at rental properties today.
Jenny Sfeir became a U.S. citizen three years ago.
"I trust in this country," she said. "The day I took oath to become a citizen was a big day for me."
Sun-Times News Group writer David Garbe contributed to this report.
Ellie
May 30, 2007
By TIM WAGNER Sun-times news group
AURORA -- A towering pile of personal belongings was stacked and covered with a plastic sheet in the front lawn at 435 W. Downer Place, where the Sfeir family was evicted Tuesday under the watch of reluctant officers from the Kane County Sheriff's Department.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jorge Sfeir -- the homeowner, husband and father of six -- is caring for wounded soldiers in Iraq, where the Army major serves as a physician. Sfeir is scheduled to return to Aurora by the end of June, according to his wife, Jenny Sfeir.
Jorge Sfeir, 57, who maintains a private gynecology practice on Lincoln Avenue in Aurora, has a long history of delinquencies -- and no one, including his family, is disputing that. Jorge Sfeir admitted Tuesday via cellular phone from Iraq that he hadn't paid his mortgage to GMAC Financial Services "for over a year," he said.
But neighbors and county deputies were upset that the home of a military man, currently away on active duty, was completely emptied by workers hired by GMAC.
Kane County Deputy Bill Gatske said he called Army and Marine Corps officials in a last-ditch effort to stymie the eviction.
"I tried getting anybody I could here to help them," Gatske said.
"I've been kind of weepy all day long," said neighbor Ray Anderson. "This tears my heart out. The man's in Iraq and they're kicking his butt out. They can at least wait until he gets back."
Not related to his service
Troops on active deployment are normally protected from foreclosure, but only if their financial delinquency is the result of their military service.
Sfeir is not entitled to that protection because his failure to pay his mortgage began long before the Army sent him overseas.
GMAC began foreclosure proceedings against Sfeir last year, and he was not deployed until March 10.
In April, a Kane County judge rejected a motion from Sfeir's lawyer that the foreclosure be delayed until the Army officer returned.
GMAC officials said they don't rush into foreclosures, which usually take more than a year before resulting in an eviction.
"It's always in the best interest of all parties to resolve these issues and keep people in their homes," said Toni Simonetti, GMAC spokeswoman. "But sometimes that's not possible."
Sfeir said he tried to make a deal with the company outside the court process but that the company was not interested.
"The company knew about it and I offered to make (payment) arrangements before I left for Iraq," he said. "They told me to go to hell, and that (the GMAC representative) didn't care."
Saving possessions
Jenny Sfeir said she began separating the family's most prized possessions and put them in storage, while the rest -- items such as television sets, chairs, a piano, a boxed-up artificial Christmas tree and bed frames -- lay beneath a plastic tarp in the grass.
By 3 p.m. Tuesday, scavengers had already begun picking through the items.
"Yesterday was Memorial Day and the family spent the day moving all their belongings, while their husband and father is in Iraq," Anderson said. "Is this the thanks they get?"
The Sfeirs have six children, three in the Marine Corps. One of the Marines is on duty in Iraq, and the other two have already served stints there.
Another daughter, Emily, is a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and is home on a break.
Different family members lived in the brick two-story, four-bedroom home at various times, said Charlotte Sfeir, the oldest child.
Jenny Sfeir said she spends about half the year in Aurora and the other half in Bolivia, where her elderly father is ill and her youngest daughter is completing high school.
Jenny Sfeir said she, Emily and Charlotte likely would stay in a hotel Tuesday night before looking at rental properties today.
Jenny Sfeir became a U.S. citizen three years ago.
"I trust in this country," she said. "The day I took oath to become a citizen was a big day for me."
Sun-Times News Group writer David Garbe contributed to this report.
Ellie