One house to be rented, other closed

One of the addresses will be used as rental property.

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

YOUNGSTOWN — City prosecutors have reached an agreement with the property owners of two houses that police call a menace and sought to have boarded up permanently.

City officials have been seeking an order stating that the properties at 135 and 131 Tod Lane on the North Side be closed because of illegal uses. A temporary order closing the properties was granted June 22, and they have been boarded up and unoccupied since then.

The court order mentions the Akise Corporation as owner of the properties and Victor Nixon, who lives at 135 Tod Lane, as principle stakeholder in the Akise Corporation.

Prosecutor Jay Macejko said Mary Sadler, no address given, who is another partner in the Akise Corporation, has come forward and vowed to clean up any illegal dealings on the property.

“She has come forward saying she is an innocent owner,” Macejko said. “The property at 135 Tod will be turned over to Mary Sadler, who will begin eviction procedures, and 131 Tod will remain boarded up.”

An order filed Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court says the property at 131 Tod will remain boarded up and out of use as a matter of the public’s best interest. The order says the closure will remain as preliminary, but there is no end date to that order.

The order says Sadler will use the property at 135 Tod as a rental unit and can remove any and all boards on the property at her own expense. Nixon or anyone associated with him, according to the order, is not permitted on the property. His presence there could void the agreement.

Nixon and Sadler will be back in court in 60 days for a status hearing.

According to a complaint filed by the prosecutor’s office, numerous complaints about illegal drug sales have been made about the properties between September 2006 and last month. The complaint says a police informant made seven controlled purchases of suspected crack cocaine from the house at 131 Tod.

The complaint goes on to say Nixon was arrested in March of this year at 135 Tod after officers found him with “a substantial amount of illegal prescription pills.” It says officers saw Nixon engaged in the illegal sale of drugs.

jgoodwin@vindy.com