Landlord Denies Bridge Creek Family Access To Their Destroyed Home

A Bridge Creek family already left homeless from last Wednesday's tornado said they've been victimized again, this time by their landlord.

James Sperry and his sister are disabled, and moved into Country Mobile Home Park with his daughter and a caregiver in Bridge Creek a month ago. The tornado last Wednesday literally flipped Sperry's mobile home upside down.

The family was not in the mobile home when it happened. Sperry said very important medications he and his sister need to live, as well as other valuables, are still in the mobile home. He said their landlord Rex Kear has threatened to have them arrested if they try to go back in.

“Everything we own is in there,” said Sperry from a friend's home Wednesday afternoon.

News 9 checked with Grady County Sheriff Jim Weir. He said Oklahoma's Landlord Tenant Act forbids landlords from keeping their tenants from their stuff, unless they've been evicted.

Sperry's sister Tammy Sipes said they paid Rex Kear $650 cash for May rent just four days before the tornado. “Very frustrating,” she said. “I lost everything. The only thing we have is what we have on our back.”

Wednesday night Rex Kear's wife called News 9 back a few hours after News 9 tried reaching her husband. She said he was only trying to look out for his tenants' safety. When informed they don't have a legal leg to stand on, she said it was alright for Sperry and Sipes's other family members to go retrieve some of their belongings at their own risk.

James Sperry said Kear has refused to refund their May rent.