Brian Louis Sguros was 35 years old and a Lauderhill, Florida, police officer when he arrived at a home on July 11, 2022, to conduct a wellness check. A neighbor had called 911 because they had not seen Dennis West for more than a week.
West was 71 years old and was dead beside the front door. The cause was natural: cardiovascular disease. But what happened next is what has him under arrest today. According to the arrest affidavit, Sguros presented himself to the medical examiner’s office as a friend of the deceased and offered to arrange the funeral if no relatives came forward. And around August 1, 2022, according to his own admission in court documents, he had already taken possession of the property.
The accusation alleges that he used West’s identity for years. In August 2024, a $8,000 building permit appeared to replace windows and doors, listing the deceased man as the owner, with his driver’s license information and a signature allegedly belonging to him, two years after his death. The contact phone number was Sguros’s. He also allegedly ran seven searches on West in police databases.
The case came to light when the officer himself sued the heirs to get reimbursed for the renovations. He says he invested at least 214,000 dollars and brought the home’s value to around 500,000, and claims he did so to prevent squatters. He is charged with five counts, including official misconduct and criminal use of a deceased person’s personal information. Sguros has not been convicted and is on unpaid leave after bail was set at 25,000 dollars.
