Local

Government hopes to push out owner of south Charlotte drug house

CHARLOTTE — A home near South Mecklenburg High School owned by a registered sex offender is considered a threat to public safety.

“We want all the problems gone,” neighbor Tiffany Gipson said. “We don’t want to hear about a murder and prostitution and drugs.”

The known drug house on Lytham Drive was also the scene of double homicide. Now, the government is trying to force the owner out.

Timothy Scott Martin, 61, has been arrested several times and police have been called to the home at least 79 times for many different crimes.

“Our children roam these streets and they can’t roam the streets safely with this house in the condition that it’s in, with all the activity that goes on here,” Gipson said.

Martin is in jail and a close friend currently lives in the house. She said she is going to clean up the place and hopes Martin can keep it.

Elizabeth Buck said she is optimistic that will happen.

“Really, I’m not a quitter,” Buck said. “I see so much in this house, so much potential here.”

Neighbors said they are sick and tired of the problems at the home and don’t have confidence the owner and his friend can change things there.

In May, a drug house in Hidden Valley was forfeited and Habitat For Humanity built a new one for a deserving family.

The Department of Justice said those types of forfeitures can happen because they are tied to a criminal case or after a high volume of disturbance calls.