UNION COUNTY, N.C. — On Tuesday, the Union County Sheriff’s Office shut down a home known to cause trouble in Indian Trail.
The department said it was part of a joint effort with the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Nuisance Abatement Team.
After collecting evidence, including affidavits from multiple neighbors, a Superior Court judge signed an order yesterday declaring the home a public nuisance.
A no trespassing sign was then placed in the front yard of the residence.
In the midst of well-manicured yards, people in the Bent Creek Neighborhood said they have been subject to years of chaos.
Neighbors like Paula Whitcomb, along with the sheriff’s office, said the culprit of that chaos has been a family living in a home on Enderbury Drive.
“I’ve watched a drive-by shooting,” said Whitcomb. “Just a few months ago, a young man died in the driveway from another drug overdose.”
Deputies said there have been repeated law enforcement and EMS calls to the home for criminal activity, assaults, and at least eighteen drug overdoses since 2019, two of which were deadly.
“I’m surprised they could, and I think it’s fantastic, because it’s been over ten years,” said resident Verona Ducey. “If you heard the police or the ambulance, you knew where they were going.”
Through state law that allows law enforcement and the courts to address properties that repeatedly foster criminal activity, the sheriff’s office was able to close and sell the home under nuisance abatement laws.
The family living in the home will have 60 days to vacate the premises.
Ducey has lived in the area for 25 years and said one of the home’s residents has been intimidating to those who spoke out.
“The gentleman of the house would get on the neighborhood Facebook page if anybody would say anything, and he would send private messages; he’s done it to me and to other women,” Ducey explained.
State law does allow for public nuisance declarations, and orders for abatement can be appealed.
The owner has ten days to file a written request for a hearing before the Union County Land Use Board.
VIDEO: ‘Lengthy history’: Home tied to criminal activity ordered to be sold within 30 days
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