Judge frees former drug house

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

An alleged former drug house that was boarded up as a public nuisance in mid-July now may be occupied but not by its previous tenants and not without criminal background checks on prospective new tenants, according to a settlement a judge has approved.

Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court approved Tuesday the settlement agreement between city Prosecutor Jay Macejko, who got the judge to order the boarding-up of the house at 904 E. Florida Ave. last month, and Todd Mittleman of Orlando, Fla., who owns the house.

In the civil nuisance action, Macejko sued Mittleman; the D’Amico Co. of Youngstown, manager of the property; and Charlotte Perry and Darrell Croom, who then were listed as the home’s occupants.

Macejko had sought and obtained the temporary restraining order and the accompanying board-up last month based on complaints about illegal drug activity and gunfire on the premises.

An undercover police informant made crack-cocaine purchases at the house on two occasions in early July, and police executed a search warrant there July 8, Macejko said.