HAMMOND | The city's legal department is investigating claims that an unlicensed business is being operated out of a single-family residence built by the charitable group Habitat for Humanity.

City Attorney Kris Kantar said the owner of the home, Beblon Bobo, has been operating a tax preparation service out of her home in the 4400 block of Hohman Avenue, something Kantar said is confirmed by phone book listings and police interviews of people seen coming and going from the house.

Kantar said she believes this may be in violation of the living agreement between the charitable organization and the residents of its rehabbed homes. Kantar also said she believes Bobo isn't living in the home

"We have evidence that she doesn't live in the house, that she's living in Illinois," Kantar said.

Bobo denied the claims in an appearance before Hammond City Judge Jeff Harkin. In a fiery exchange with Harkin that ultimately found her temporarily in police custody for disturbing the court, Bobo said she lives in the Hammond home and sends her children to the city's public schools. She said she operates a business in Illinois.

Kantar said she believes the city can't lawfully give Bobo a license to operate a business in a Habitat home, but Harkin said the issue he's concerned with is whether Bobo is running a business without a license. Whether she's permitted to run a business out of a Habitat for Humanity house is a matter for the organization to discuss, he said.

Jolanda Logan, a representative with Habitat for Humanity's national organization, said the details of mortgage agreements between the organization and its home buyers are decided by local chapters. No one at the Northwest Indiana chapter was available for comment, though Kantar said the organization is investigating the matter.

Bobo is to appear again Thursday in Hammond City Court.