By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

An East Street home was the site of another drug bust Wednesday afternoon.

The Bucyrus Police Department, assisted by the METRICH Enforcement Unit, the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, and the Galion Police Department, executed a search warrant just after 3 p.m. on July 23 at 536 East St. in Bucyrus. During the search warrant law enforcement seized a variety of narcotics, drug paraphernalia, and drug abuse instruments.

Police arrested Amber N. Hall of Bucyrus for drug possession and other charges. Dennis J. Evans, also of Bucyrus, was arrested on an active warrant and for possession of marijuana. Hall and Evans were transported to the Crawford County Justice Center to be held.

“It’s a health problem for the neighborhood and the school,” Bucyrus Police Chief Dave Koepke stated concerning the drug activity in the neighborhood, noting the fact that the house was also in the path of the activities at Bucyrus Elementary. “It’s hazardous to the neighbors and the school with needles being discarded on the ground in the path of the students.”

Koepke added that city services will be looking into the health and safety of the property, especially in light of the fact that the person who rented the home wasn’t living in the house at the time of the drug bust. Koepke said they will also be investigating what responsibilities the property owner, Paul McGlone of McGlone’s Rentals, has concerning the property and the people he leases it to.

This particular home has been searched before in reference to drugs, though different people were living in it each time.

Koepke said he returned to the property Thursday morning with Bucyrus Fire Chief Jay Keller with a code enforcement to check the perimeter of the property. No improvements had been made structurally to the property since the last time the safety forces reviewed the property.

“There’s a lot of opinion about tearing the house down,” Koepke said. Though the police department will do what it can, Koepke said tearing down the house “can’t cure the addiction. It’s a much bigger problem than that.”