Two known drug houses are shut down and boarded up, according to the City of Columbus.
One of the homes is on East Weisheimer Road. The other is on Garden Road.
Police say the homes have been the setting of drug violations, overdoses, and other illegal activity.
Court documents show that in March of this year, Richard Martin III overdosed at the home on East Weisheimer. Medics revived him. Just one month later investigators say a woman overdosed at that same home.
Another time, authorities say they found burnt spoons, crack pipes and crystal meth at the property.
Patricia Sherman lives in the neighborhood. She said didn’t know any of it was going on.
“It really concerns me cause I’m not even aware. I guess it was kept quiet. I do know. Walking down the street, I saw that there are painted signs that say “drug dealers are here,” said Sherman.
Today police say the owner of the home on Garden sold the property.
They expect it to be rehabbed soon.
According to the City Attorney’s office:
In March 2018, Columbus Police and EMS personnel responded to a call of a suspected drug overdose. On scene, they revived W. Richard Martin III, the owner of 715 E. Weisheimer Road. Nathan Leighly, one of the residents of 622 Garden, was with Mr. Martin at the time.
On April 3, 2018 police officers and paramedics responded to a reported drug overdose at the Weisheimer property and found an unconscious female victim inside. They also encountered an individual named Mary McDaniel, who was uncooperative and refused to tell the officers the name of the victim or what drugs they had taken. The victim was revived with Naloxone and Ms. McDaniel was arrested. The following day, officers observed two females and an unknown male at the premises. As the officers approached, the man ran away while the women remained and were identified as both having outstanding warrants for their arrest. Mr. Martin alleged that the women were there to help him fix his house. The officers recovered marijuana, a digital scale, a stolen handgun and ammunition.
On April 14, officers encountered Mr. Martin and a woman in a van parked at the premises. Martin claimed they were trying to “make repairs to the car.” The officers found pills, a crack pipe, syringes, a burnt spoon, and crystal meth inside the vehicle. Both Mr. Martin and the other individual were arrested. On April 28, officers responded to the premises and arrested an individual who had a bag of marijuana, multiple glass pipes, a bag of pills, and an open liquor bottle in his vehicle.
On May 21, officers once again arrested Mr. Martin for possession of narcotics. His 16-year-old son was with him at the time. A little over a week later, police received a community complaint that a young woman was lying in the yard with a needle stuck in her arm.
On June 1, city code enforcement officers inspected the property and found it didn’t have running water or electrical service. It also had “significant fire damage” and standing water in the basement. Due to what the inspectors determined to be uninhabitable living conditions, the city issued emergency vacate and board up orders. At this juncture, Mr. Martin began living in an RV parked in the rear of the property. The community complaints of suspicious drug activity continued.
Court records indicate that late last month, officers encountered a juvenile, who was later identified to be Mr. Martin’s daughter, living with him in the RV. The area around the vehicle was “riddled with needles and drug paraphernalia.” Franklin County Children Services were notified and took immediate custody of the child. Police officials have noted various individuals going back and forth between Mr. Martin’s property and 622 Garden Road, sometimes on foot or bike but oftentimes being shuttled by Mr. Martin’s RV. On September 24, officers arrested Mr. Leighly, who was standing near the RV at the time, for possession of black tar heroin, needles, and white powder residue.
On October 11, police responded to 622 Garden Road on a report of “suspicious individuals…carrying book bags in and out of the house.” The responding officers made several arrests after finding illegal narcotics, syringes, drug paraphernalia, and a backpack filled with “blank check paper and counterfeit money.” On October 30, one day before neighborhood children would be trick-or-treating, officers arrested an individual from the premises who was wanted on seven outstanding warrants for pandering nudity to minors.
