COLUMBUS – Columbus city officials took action to shut down two West Side homes they say have been used for drug dealing and prostitution.
A home at 647 Belvidere Avenue, located one-tenth of a mile from West Mound Elementary School, was boarded up Wednesday and a hearing is scheduled for next week on a request to take action against the owner of a building at 840 S. Hague Avenue which is located less than a mile from three nearby schools, according to the office of Columbus City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer.
If both properties are declared public nuisances state law would allow authorities to close them for up to a year.
Following community complaints, undercover narcotics detectives bought heroin and crack cocaine on three occasions in August and December 5th at the Belvidere Avenue address and executed a search warrant there on Dec. 7, when they found drugs, cash, security cameras and miscellaneous ammunition.
Police also investigated reports of illegal drug activity and prostitution at the Hague Avenue house, described in court documents as a “constant nuisance” and “littered with syringes,” for months, Pfeiffer’s office said.
The activity had actually appeared to intensify after Pfeiffer’s office got court permission to board up the house next door for similar nuisance activity.
While authorities say they were told by the property owner that no one lived in the house, neighbors reported that 20 to 30 vehicles were seen coming and going from the house every day.
After making a covert purchase of crack cocaine in October, police executed a search warrant and found a digital scale, a .32 caliber revolver and ammunition, Pfeiffer’s office announced.