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Police find South Side home also ringed by cameras
By joe gorman
youngstown
Police found six guns and an elaborate security system at a South Side home Thursday while serving a search warrant.
Members of the vice squad were serving the warrant at 185 E. Lucius Ave. about 5:45 p.m., looking for drug activity, and found the guns — five handguns and a rifle, scattered throughout the house.
Additionally, nine people inside were cited for criminal trespassing because the house has been deemed uninhabitable by the city housing department. Officers found that notice in the trash, reports said.
Lt. Gerard Slattery, head of the vice squad, said the house was ringed with seven security cameras and a sophisticated security system in place.
“They had an alarm system we’re not used to seeing,” Slattery said.
Police found a loaded rifle; a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol; three bags of marijuana; four boxes of ammunition for a .30-30 rifle; a .22-caliber revolver; several tablets; a .44-caliber revolver; a box of .38-caliber ammunition; a 9 mm pistol and ammunition; and ammunition for the .380-caliber pistol.
Slattery said of the 100 or so warrants the vice squad serves a year, he estimated it has a haul like Thursday’s between five and 10 times a year. He said one of the revolvers is an antique gun that needs black powder to fire and he is sure the people operating the drug house out of the home were not using it.
“It was probably there because of a drug give-up,” Slattery said.
He said probably several of the guns found were used as barter in drug deals.
The house had been red-tagged Oct. 29 because there was no running water, Slattery said. He said the people were cited for criminal trespass because no one is allowed in a home that does not have running water or that has been deemed uninhabitable.
Those cited were released and arraigned in Youngstown Municipal Court on Friday.