DAYTON — The family of the former owner of a house at the center of a Tuesday morning drug and prostitution bust said the occupants are there illegally.
Two people were arrested after Dayton police executed the search on North Findlay Street, just north of East Third Street in Dayton.
News Center 7’s Sean Cudahy spoke with the former owners to learn how that house came to be a hub for alleged illegal activity.
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“We were constantly being badgered, constantly having to worry about our own safety,” Jessica Singer said.
For years, Singer’s father lived at this North Findlay Street house, where she said conditions got dicey.
“There were people constantly turning his doorknobs at night trying to break in,” she said.
Finally, last year she had enough and decided to move her dad out and then attempted to sell the house. But as soon as he was gone, the break-ins started, over and over again for months, Singer said.
“And so we would have to wake up in the middle of the night and run down there and lock everything up,” she said.
It got so bad, they just signed the house to the bank so it wasn’t their responsibility anymore.
They kept an eye on it, and couldn’t believe what happened next.
“Then we started seeing people living there. And it was like ‘how can somebody be living in this house illegally?’” she said.
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When Dayton police raided the house on Tuesday, they found evidence of suspected drugs and prostitution. Five people initially were detained, but only two were arrested.
Police did not identify the two men arrested. However, Montgomery County Jail records show that Keith Darnell Greene, 55, and Jeremy Adam Sanchez, 36, were arrested by Dayton police Tuesday morning at the home in the first block of North Findlay Street. Both were booked on suspicion of drug charges and are due Wednesday in Dayton Municipal Court. Sanchez also is accused of a misdemeanor theft.
“Neighborhood complaints, so we investigated,” Dayton police Sgt. Kelly Hamilton said of what precipitated the search.
Neighbors said the street had gotten much worse in the months since the Singers turned over ownership to the bank.
“I think 20 people live inside that house. They go in and out,” Ricardo Paredes said.
“I see people sometimes doing drugs,” Ruby Paredes said.
People illegally occupying properties in the area is not a new problem.
Just a couple blocks over on North Horton Street, a man died after a fire burned a garage on Sept. 11 he apparently had been living inside.
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And nearby on George Street, a landlord said he did not know people were living in a house he owned when the squatters attempted to re-connect a gas line, causing a massive November 2018 explosion.
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Back on Findlay Street, “it’s so sad to see,” said Singer, who added that she is glad to see two arrests at that home but wonders whether it will fix the problem.
Someone got dropped off at the house and ran inside on Tuesday afternoon, and later a couple people were seen leaving the house with belongings and dogs.
“If I moved into somebody’s house like that and took over ... I’d be arrested. I don’t know how people get away with that,” Singer said.
The identities of the two arrested were not released and it was not immediately known what charges they might face.