Five people are facing drug charges after the Knoxville Police Department Repeat Offender Squad raided a suspected crack house in the Lonsdale community.
According to KPD, the investigation into the house at 923 Ohio Avenue began after numerous complaints of drug activity by neighbors. Also, KPD officers had made several drug arrests in the area believed to have been connected to that house.
The Repeat Offender Squad was able to make controlled purchases of crack cocaine from the house and confirm that the residence was being used to cook power cocaine into crack for distribution in the community.
When officers entered the house on Wednesday with a search warrant, they found several people preparing to cook powder cocaine into crack.
38 grams of powder cocaine was found along with numerous items used to manufacture and distribute crack cocaine. Officers also recovered two handguns from the house and seized a 2003 Dodge Truck.
Five people were charged after the investigation:
- Douglas Randall, 52, charged with Manufacturing/Distributing Crack Cocaine and Possession of a Firearm in the Commission of a Dangerous Felony
- Lisa Roberts, 44, charged with Manufacturing/Distributing Crack Cocaine
- Melissa Roberts, 40, charged with Possession of Cocaine for Resale
- Robert Garner, 64, charged with Possession of Cocaine for Resale. He's also Tennessee's Sexual Offender Registry.
- David Douglas, 38, charged with Sale and Delivery of Cocaine. Douglas has served a prison sentence for Second Degree Murder.
In addition to the search warrant the Knox County District Attorney's Office obtained and served the occupants of the residence with a Temporary Nuisance Injunction signed by Criminal Court Judge Bob McGhee and the house was boarded up.
According to a press release from the District Attorney General's Office: "This latest petition involves the continued cooperative effort between Knoxville Police Department and the District Attorney's Office to make neighborhoods safer from the activities that affect the safety and quality of life of residents. This is the twenty-fifth such injunction sought by the District Attorney's Office at the request of the Knoxville Police Department since 2009."