COLUMBUS – City officials this week received permission for the courts to shut down a West Side home they say was the hub of a drug trafficking ring and the base of operations for more than 50 gang members.
It is the second house on the same street to be shuttered in the last two months, according to the office of Columbus City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer.
Pfeiffer’s office was granted an order from the Franklin County Environmental Court to board up 54 Whitethorne Avenue after filing a complaint against 69 Whitethorne in August.
Both properties are located less than a half-mile from Highland Elementary School and the J. Ashburn, Jr. Youth Center, Pfeiffer said.
Columbus police, who had been investigating complaints of illegal activity at the house this past summer, made a bought some marijuana there on Sept. 11 and executed a search warrant 10 days later when they seized marijuana, heroin and pills with a combined estimated street value of $41,000, as well as cash, guns, ammunition and Pfeiffer says they found 10 known gang members on the property.
A hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 4 to determine if the owners, identified as Loss and Dorothy Miller of Hilliard, “knew of, participated in, or acquiesced to the activity which constituted the nuisance,” Pfeiffer said.