Editor’s note: Snohomish County Councilman Nate Nehring is pushing for a county law similar to one in Marysville that makes it easier for law enforcement to shut down nuisance and drug houses. This story deals with such a house in the Bryant area. The story has been held for some time due to sources in fear of retaliation. They say things are better now that the house’s owner has moved, but they still don’t want their names used so they are called here Witnesses 1, 2 and 3.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY – Since 2016, a remote neighborhood in Bryant has been dealing with hundreds of people going to a drug house at all hours of the day and night. Police and deputies have been there often, making arrests not only for drugs but also for kidnapping, rape, stolen guns and other property, and more.
At least three of the 68 neighbors have supplied the sheriff’s office with evidence in an attempt to shut it down, to no avail.
Sgt. Leslie Vander Wel said officers are doing the best they can.
“Any and all crimes that my crew has responded to have been handled appropriately, and there are charges pending,” she said in an email to The Arlington Times. “I have tried explaining the process to any neighbors I have talked to but they are so tired and frustrated that they aren’t listening I guess.”
Detective David Chitwood agreed.
“The neighbors are impatient,” he said. “We can’t just search a house. We have to prove all of this stuff, and it takes time.”
Some arrests
There have been some arrests.
•A sheriff’s report says a 22-year-old man was arrested, and 13 firearms, $9,115 in cash and some illegal drugs were seized. Detectives from the North County Property Crimes Unit served a search warrant; firearms were found, of which two were stolen. Drugs seized included 60 grams of heroin, 2 grams of meth and 7 grams of an unknown substance.
•A convicted rapist with a year-old pending sex charge was arrested for suspicion of attacking a woman in January of 2017, a report says. The two met at a bar, and he offered to give her a ride home. She said she was raped while another man drove and then parked outside the Bryant home. Jerry G. Wood, 40, of Shoreline was at the county jail on suspicion of first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping. A judge set bail at $1 million.
•After that arrest, deputies got a search warrant for drugs and guns that were seen during the previous arrest. In one room, deputies found meth and heroin. They found a purse and stolen credit cards. They discovered a small backpack containing a safe with more heroin and $2,711 cash. There was a laptop bag with a Beretta .22 and a Titan Tiger .38, along with a Remington shotgun in the closet that was stolen and a backpack full of ammunition. The suspect, Arthur Hinojosa, was found later with $3,000 on him. He said he lived in Marysville, but his daughter, who lives at the address he gave, said he is not allowed at her home because he is a drug dealer, and she does not want that element around her children, a sheriff report says. When told the owner of the Bryant house said Hinojosa lived there, he said that every morning he is awakened by AK rounds being fired.
Evidence from witnesses
On the night of that last bust, about 15 law enforcement vehicles were there for 15 hours as about 25 people were inside. However, it took more than 50 minutes to bust the door down to get inside. Their sirens were on, and they were yelling over a loudspeaker for them to come out with their hands up. “That’s a lot of time to destroy evidence,” Witness 1 said.
Witness 1 had been documenting evidence of goings-on at the house for months. He said the night after the last arrest between midnight at 3 a.m. there must have been more than 100 cars going up and down the 2-mile-long gravel driveway.
Among information he gathered was a video showing a man in a car trying to pick up a woman at the house. There was very loud yelling and profanity, and two shots were fired before the woman said she couldn’t go.
Neighbors also have collages of pictures showing cars and people coming in and out of the property. “It was so many cars it was hard to keep track,” Witness 1 wrote.
Witness 2 was worried about the random gun shots. “It’s a hazard to anyone within a mile. People on the streets are at a real risk. “This is the kind of hell we’ve been living through. People in and out of this small community to buy drugs and hire prostitutes all day and all night long, every day.”
Witness 3 said he has been dealing with this for two years and said he has loads of information on his computer. Evidence includes more than 1,000 license plate numbers of vehicles going to the home. He’s been sharing data with the task force for six months.
“The a—-hole came in and put our lives at risk,” he said. “He’s destroyed the entire neighborhood. He’s brought Tacoma Hilltop to my neighborhood.”
He said he put up 15 cameras last January. “Anything not nailed down has been stolen from our and other neighborhoods,” he wrote in an email. “I think everyone in our neighborhood is stunned how someone can get away with this for so long,” he added.
“There have been at least six large raids where they come in with six or eight law-enforcement vehicles where they were fully decked out with long guns, battering rams, loud speakers…” Witness 2 complained that a white deer was killed Aug. 12 with a .40-caliber pistol. He blamed someone at the house. “It was a thrill kill,” he said, adding that the deer was so used to people that someone could easily get within a few feet.
Witness 1 said it’s not uncommon for 50 or more cars to show up at night, not including the many walkers and bicyclists. The 68 neighbors have a private Facebook account so they can quickly share information. They have mapped out other alleged drug houses nearby.
“It’s a living nightmare for the neighborhood,” Witness 1 said. “It gets pretty brazen out there.”
Law enforcement limited
Even though the neighbors have shared information with police, problems continue. “I stopped sending information because nothing happened,” Witness 1 said. “I do blame the sheriff’s office and the task force for making no arrests for heroin, methamphetamine and stolen guns. And for allowing this to continue. The only reason the house is ‘shut down’ is that it sold.” Chitwood explained that police can’t just sit and wait and arrest people who leave the house. “It’s not as easy as the neighbors think,” he said. “I wish there was more we could do right away.”
He added that this neighborhood is only one of 100 in the county that officers have to deal with that are nuisance houses. Two others remain in this neighborhood alone, and the law has been dealing with them for 15 years, Witness 3 said.
The neighbors said the reason they came to the newspaper is because they want laws to change so police can more effectively do their jobs.
“It’s gone too far. They’re scared out of their wits,” Witness 1 said of the neighborhood.
Witness 2 agreed. “They arrive and never do anything. I don’t get it,” he said, adding that for awhile he thought the owner of the house might be an informant.
“The value they get out of him better be huge,” Witness No. 2 said.
Witness No. 3 agreed about the informant idea.
“I believe they’re trying to take down the whole ring,” he said. “This is bigger than any one drug dealer.”
All three agreed a law should include that the owner of a house should be held accountable for things that go on there.
Chitwood said if people don’t like the situation, change the laws. Other states have. And Marysville has a great law that helps it get rid of nuisance and drug houses, he added.
“We can’t do what can be done in some other states. We do what we can,” he said.
Update
After the owner moved out, Witness 3 said things have improved 100 percent. “He sold his house, thank God,” he said. “Residuals will come for months,” he added of addicts who won’t know it’s no longer a drug house.
He said a couple of the drug customers visited the house with the new owners, but nothing serious has happened.
“No more constant gunfire. No more hundreds of cars in and out each week. No weird people wandering up and down the road. No more explosions.”
Witness 3 did say that police asked the new owners to allow cadaver dogs to search the property. “In this state, this county, you can sell narcotics from your property, organize sex trafficking, cause enormous danger for your neighbors, and the police apparently can do nothing – nothing whatsoever,” he said.
New law coming?
County Councilman Nate Nehring has drafted a law that would give law enforcement more tools to deal with nuisance and drug properties.
Nehring had meetings with detective David Chitwood of the county Drug and Gang Task Force, Sheriff Ty Trenary, Jeff Ketchel of the Snohomish Health District and Barb Mock, the county Planning and Development Services director.
They worked to write the best law they could, Nehring said. Once a final review is done, the County Council will schedule a public hearing for a final vote.
“The lack of abatement laws requires a complex and lengthy process to lawfully remove people from Snohomish County nuisance properties,” Trenary said. “This process is, understandably, frustrating to neighbors and members of the community since these properties are almost always home to crime and drugs. I support Council Member Nehring’s efforts to get an abatement law on the books to expedite the county’s ability to close down and clean up nuisance properties.”
The sheriff’s office reports that since 2014, it has opened more than 245 nuisance property investigations. From homeless encampments to squatters living in bank-foreclosed properties, the drug task force routinely finds signs of drug abuse at these locations. These properties become a hub for criminal activity, repositories of stolen property and garbage – even human waste.
These properties and the people they attract create a real concern of safety for neighbors. They are the root of fear for residents as they increasingly become afraid of the people coming and going at all hours. Marysville has had a law on the books for a few years now and has shut down numerous drug houses. Arlington used its more-general public nuisance law to shut down a drug house as recently as mid-December.
The sheriff’s office said there are about 90 open investigations in the county right now – almost half are in Arlington and Marysville.
Highlights of draft law
•Properties with multiple unlawful conditions or activities regarding health, safety, welfare and quality-of-life.
•Properties that persist in failing to resolve those conditions become chronic nuisances.
•They become a financial burden to Snohomish County because of repeated calls for service.
•As a result, a process is set up for abatement.
•“Chronic nuisance activity” means: Criminal Mischief, Disorderly Conduct, Sex Offenses, Indecent exposure – Prostitution, Sexual Exploitation of Children, Drug Traffickers, Firearms and Dangerous Weapons, Possession of stolen property, Health and sanitation and Gang activity.
•Within a 90-day period it is documented that six or more chronic nuisance activities occurred at the property.
•Law enforcement shall warn the person responsible that the property is in danger of being declared a chronic nuisance.
•The person responsible must respond to law enforcement within 10 days to create a plan for abatement.
•A statement explaining that if legal action is sought and the property is declared a chronic nuisance, the property could be subject to closure; civil penalties could be assessed, up to $100 per day, and more.
•All information is then turned over the prosecutor.
•If the court determines it is a chronic nuisance, it may order the property closed and secured against all unauthorized access, use and occupancy for up to one year.
•Nothing prohibits the county from taking emergency action to avoid an immediate threat.
