A missing house that was stolen from an Oregon property and later found less than a mile away is now at the center of an ownership dispute.
The debacle came to light Tuesday when Ronald Niederbrach called the Klamath County Sheriff's Office frantic over a 1,500-square-foot log cabin that was stolen from his property in the remote Sprague River area, The Oregonian reported.
Someone apparently lifted the entire cabin off its foundations and dragged it somewhere else.
"You can imagine the weight of that thing," Sheriff Frank Skrah said of the case, the likes of which he's never seen in his 40 years on the job. "You don't just put that in your back pocket."
The cabin wasn't missing long. It was found on Thursday across a field less than a mile away, near the town of Chiloquin, The Oregonian reported.
Though the cabin was found, police now have to deal with two people in addition to Niederbrach who claim to be the real owner.
One of them is a man named Miklos Kallo. Years ago, Kallo went to live with Niederbrach and his girlfriend at a house on the Sprague River property so the girlfriend - who is Kallo's ex-wife - could take care of Kallo due to health issues.
At some point Kallo commissioned for the log cabin to be built and moved into it, according to the newspaper. In the meantime, Niederbrach and his girlfriend, Paulette Kallo, breakup and she gets back together with her husband.
By that time the property was titled under all three names. After Niederbrack moved out, the Kallos continue living in the house until it's eventually destroyed by a fire.
The Kallos move out and Miklos sold the log cabin to an unnamed fourth party, The Oregonian reported.
That was back in July 2014. By September of that year, the new owner moved the cabin to its new home across the field near Chiloquin.
Micklos apparently didn't tell his wife or Niederbrach he sold the cabin. Niederbrach found out the cabin was gone sometime between last September and the present. But he didn't notify police it was missing until Tuesday.
Sheriffs said the new cabin owner had no idea what he got himself into. The only thing to do now is determine if the case is a civil matter or if criminal charges are warranted, the newspaper reported.
Bottom line, "it's a mess," Skrah said.
