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WBOC 16: Biden: 2 Frankford Drug Houses Shut Down Permanently

FRANKFORD, Del.- Two houses in Frankford with a long history of drug-related problems are now boarded up and the owners have been ordered to stay away for good, according to Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden.

Biden said the recent action is part of the state Department of Justice’s enforcement of Delaware’s Drug Nuisance and Social Vices Abatement Abatement Act, which gives owners of properties where crime is allowed to continue unchecked the choice to either clean up the problem voluntarily or face the DOJ in court.

On Oct. 15, 2009, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against the owners of 28565 Blueberry Lane in Frankford because of severe drug nuisance activity. At a hearing held last November in Sussex County Superior Court, prosecutors provided evidence of that activity, including an armed robbery during which shots were fired in the presence of an 8-year-old child, a stabbing, and a drive-by shooting during in which bullets entered the house when a 6-month-old and a 2-year-old child were present.

Since October 2004 police have visited the Blueberry Lane property at least 18 times to take into custody fugitives believed to be on-site, according to Biden. Following the hearing, at the DOJ’s request, Resident Judge T. Henley Graves agreed that the property presented an immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare and issued a temporary abatement order closing the property. Since that time, no additional instances of drug activity have been reported, Biden noted.

In its investigation of the Blueberry Lane property, Biden said that the DOJ learned that another Frankford property owned by the same individuals, located at 34676 Delaware Ave., was also the site of substantial drug activity over a period of several years.

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