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Superior Court Judge T. Henley Graves declared on Thursday, Dec. 28, that a residential property in West Rehoboth was the site of drug and vice crime and ordered immediate action taken to protect the community.
“Today is a great day for the residents of West Rehoboth and for all Delawareans who work hard to protect their families and maintain safe and secure neighborhoods,” said Attorney General Joseph R. Biden III. “The Delaware Department of Justice is taking proactive steps to eliminate drug and vice crime from the streets where we live and work.”
Biden announced in August an offensive by the Delaware Department of Justice to reduce crime across the state by aggressively enforcing Delaware’s recently enhanced Drug Nuisance and Social Vices Abatement Act. The act provides law enforcement with tools to weed out properties where drug and other vice crimes occur. In the temporary abatement hearing Dec. 27, the Department of Justice petitioned Superior Court to order immediate steps be taken against egregious criminal activity occurring at a West Rehoboth property located at 136 Norwood St.
“This West Rehoboth property is the first residential property in Delaware to be judicially declared a nuisance under the Nuisance Abatement Act,” said Biden. “This law is a powerful tool at our disposal, and we will continue to use it up and down our state to weed out the bad apples poisoning our neighborhoods.”
Graves’ ruling ordered that several conditions must be met within 15 days, including the following:
• Any tenant on the property besides the property owners must be evicted
• Two apartments on the property must be vacated and shuttered
• Only the property owners and a limited number of specific family members are permitted on the property at any time
• Signs must be posted stating that loitering, trespassing and illegal drug sales are prohibited.
Any other person who enters the property would be subject to arrest on charges of criminal trespassing. These conditions remain in effect until a permanent abatement hearing is held in Superior Court.
Biden also announced the Department of Justice on Dec. 27 filed a lawsuit against the owners of an adjoining property in West Rehoboth as part of its effort to combat criminal activity in that community. Since December 2006, the Department of Justice has issued written notices statewide to the owners of 12 residential properties and seven commercial properties.
These notices state the Department of Justice has determined that a nuisance exists on the property and give property owners the choice of either voluntarily cooperating to clean up the illegal activity on their properties or defending themselves in court and ultimately being forced to clean up the crime on their properties by court order.
Delaware’s Drug Nuisance and Social Vices Abatement Act stipulates the process law enforcement can use to take action against nuisance properties. Upon a finding a residential or commercial property is conducting or permitting drug distribution, prostitution or other illegal drug activity, the Department of Justice may bring a civil action to abate the activity. Abatement actions can take the form of a variety of possible remedies, including closing a property.
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