Columbus boards up 15th drug house on West Side this year

In Franklinton, a block away from the local Columbus Metropolitan Library branch and a five-minute walk from Avondale Elementary School or the Gladden Community House, there is two-story duplex on the corner of Dakota Avenue and Rich Street.

Blink once on your drive to Land Grant Brewing or on the way to stop for a cup at One Line Coffee and you might miss it.

But the basement unit of this duplex at 224 Dakota Ave. has now become the 15th drug house operation shuttered in this particular police zone in Franklinton on the West Side this year, according to the city attorney’s office.

City Attorney Zach Klein announced Wednesday that the city obtained an injunction through the environmental division of the Franklin County Municipal Court to remove all residents from the building and to board it up. The action was sought after Columbus police received multiple complaints and an informant bought crack cocaine multiple times from the property through an undercover investigation.

“No one deserves to have this level of crime harming their neighborhood,” Klein said in a prepared statement.

Crack cocaine, fentanyl found via undercover drug deals

Over the course of the past four

months, Columbus police reported that armed drug dealers were operating inside the basement unit of the Dakota Avenue duplex selling crack cocaine and fentanyl while fielding prostitution complaints, according to a court order.

Assistant City Attorney Zach Gwin, who oversees the city’s West Side for Klein’s office, said he was particularly distressed by the high volume of lethal drugs being sold in an apartment so close to several community cornerstones in Franklinton.

“We want to thank the Columbus Division of Police for their efforts and

hope this court ruling will provide some relief to the neighborhood,” Gwin said in a release.

The property is the 15th drug den the city has gone to court to shut down in this particular police zone in Franklinton on the West Side this year, according to the city attorney’s office.

The building owner, residents and Gwin will appear again in court Nov. 29 to discuss further stipulations for the property under the court-ordered injunction. cdoyle@dispatch.com @cadoyle_18

GOOGLE 2019 This home at 148 S. Dakota Ave. was boarded up Monday, Oct. 12, 2020, after Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein’s office obtained an emergency court order.

GOOGLE IMAGES Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein announced the city obtained a court order to board up half of a duplex at 224 Dakota Ave. in Franklinton over drug trafficking there.