Buffalo, New York – When a man purchased an abandoned house at a city auction for tax-delinquent properties one year ago, he had no idea that the same people who were supposed to protect him from trespassers, would be the ones to illegally enter his property and threaten him.

Mohammad Ismail told Buffalo News that he knew the decrepit house was going to need a lot of work when he purchased it for $14,000—as it had not been lived in for years—but he had big plans to renovate it into a home for his wife and four children.

Ismail said that after his purchase of the home was finalized, and he obtained a building permit, he was working on the house on April 18 when he was approached by two Buffalo police officers. Officers Christopher Fields and Debra A. Strobele were both in uniform when they arrived in a patrol car.