U.S. Marshals plan online house auction

YOUNGSTOWN — If you like online auctions, check out the U.S. Marshals Service sale of a house at 452 W. Hylda Ave. forfeited by a drug dealer.

The auction begins at 8 a.m. Aug. 27 and ends at 3 p.m. Aug. 29. The minimum bid is $12,500 (with bid increments of $875) for the well-maintained 1 1/2-story South Side house.

The Web site for USM asset sales is www.usmarshals.gov/assets and choose “current asset sales.”

Scroll down past all the wire rims and click on Youngstown, OH — single family residence. You’ll find a photo of the house and instructions for bidding. The house ad is located between limited edition prints of painted ponies and residential land in Cocoa, Fla.

The five-room house on West Hylda was built in 1941, according to Mahoning County records. A past sale notes a price of more than $50,000.

Aside from houses all over the country, there’s loads of other stuff forfeited by court order, generally because federal prosecutors proved the items were purchased with ill-gotten gains.

The house on West Hylda was owned by 58-year-old Marvin L. McWilson, who was convicted of cocaine distribution and sentenced in October 2006 to 57 months in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan signed the order of forfeiture in April.

McWilson, who reached a plea agreement with the government, had to forfeit $8,167 seized at his house, three Harley Davidson motorcycles, a pickup truck and the house on West Hylda. He acknowledged that he sold powdered cocaine at the place, court papers show.

There’s a link on the U.S. Marshals Service Web site to Bid4Assets (www.bid4assets.com). Since 1999, Bid4Assets which has been helping the federal government sell diverse assets such as high-end vehicles, collector cars, residential, commercial and agricultural real estate, timeshares, sport fishing vessels, aircraft, artwork, jewelry, financial instruments and much more.