Restraining order obtained to shut down purported drug house

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The city has received a temporary restraining order to shut down what it says is a drug house.

Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court signed the order Wednesday.

The case is set for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 5 on a permanent injunction to shut down the house at 489 Francisca Ave. on the city’s North Side.

In a court document, city Prosecutor Jay Macejko said the deeded owner of the property, John F. Gibson, died in October 2009.

Michelle L. Burkes and Jonathan D. Gibson are John Gibson’s children and were the occupants of the house “at all relevant times,” the document states.

The document also says an unidentified tenant lived in the house as well.

The restraining order request states that since 2008, the city has received complaints about illegal activities, particularly illegal drug activity, at the house.

Youngstown police executed search warrants there on three occasions and found guns, drugs or drug paraphernalia, the document says.

Continued drug sales and violent criminal activity associated with them will harm the surrounding community, the document says.

The court ordered that the police can close the house by padlocking it and boarding it up.