Columbus is ordering the cleanup and vacating of a property where a methamphetamine lab was recently found.
The Columbus Board of Works approved a recommendation from code enforcement officer Fred Barnett to condemn a house at 150/152 S. Brooks St. as “unfit for human habitation due to an active meth lab.”
A week prior, six people were arrested after law enforcement found the lab, as well as several weapons, at 150 S. Brooks St.
Barnett also recommended that the property be vacated by the tenant until it is fully in compliance with the Indiana Department of Health’s regulations regarding cleanup and inspection.
“I have contacted the owner,” said Barnett. “He’s in agreement with the action that I’m taking.”
Assistant Director of Community Development Robin Hilber said that the lab also affects the property’s status as Section 8 housing. According to the local housing authority, this program issues housing choice vouchers that help eligible families with rent.
“The person who was arrested had two children, so those children are in the hands of DCS right now,” said Hilber. “The voucher will remain active. So once he is released from jail, they will try to find him new housing some place in Columbus until that is cleaned up. But that house will no longer be eligible for rental under the Section 8 program until it has been remediated.”
On Dec. 14, officers from the Columbus Police Department SWAT Team, which is comprised of officers from CPD as well as the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, served a search warrant at 150 S. Brooks St. The search warrant was part of an ongoing Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team investigation regarding weapons and illegal narcotics.
During their search, officers found several firearms, drug paraphernalia, 73 grams of methamphetamine and a methamphetamine lab inside the home, according to investigators.
Of the six individuals taken into custody and remanded on preliminary charges, two were listed as residents of 150 S. Brooks: Joshua V. Dewey, 40 and Matthew J. Havidic, 58.
Dewey was initially transported to Columbus Regional Health, where he was in police custody. Officials said that, upon his discharge, he would be remanded to the county jail on the following preliminary charges: Dealing in methamphetamine, manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and maintaining a common nuisance.
Havidic’s preliminary charges were maintaining a common nuisance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
