LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — The home at 1639 Norman Drive in Lakeland is off-limits for a year, even to its owner.
“No matter what the illegal activity is, no matter what the nuisance is, when you enable it by offering safe haven, that’s not going to work in this city,” said Lt. Joe Parker with the Lakeland Police Department.
Lakeland police officers boarded up the home Friday. Its residents were already evacuated.
“When I first moved in this neighborhood, it was very quiet, and after the last year or so, there’s been a lot of shootings with young teenagers,” said Christine Derby, who lives nearby.
Derby said those teenagers often gathered around a specific house.
“It’s my concern because I have young teenager boys, and now if this is done and taken down, hopefully it’s a start because I fear for my young teenager sons’ lives,” Derby said.
The home is now under the jurisdiction of the Lakeland Nuisance Abatement board, a unique entity in Polk County.
According to Lt. Parker, police have to show evidence of two felonies being committed in the last six months, meet the statutory requirements for a nuisance and attempt to have the homeowner “self-abate.”
Much of the work is done by Lakeland Police Department’s Community Services Unit.
The Norman Drive is home is one of 25 properties in the past year to fall under the jurisdiction of the city’s Nuisance Abatement Board.
“This particular one was due to violent activity that’s happened in this immediate vicinity and this continuing to be a safe haven for people to run, hide, stash guns,” said Lt. Parker.
That “violent activity” includes shootings, according to police.
Lt. Parker said several guns were found in the home, including in the freezer.
For a year, the homeowner, identified as Leopold Phenestor, and anyone else in the home have to find somewhere else to live.
“We figure out where are all the strings attached so that we are able to monitor that,” Parker said. “If they move from this place and we displace it to another place, we’re ready for that.”
The home will be turned back over to the owner after a year.
In the meantime, anyone caught in the home could be jailed on felony trespassing charges.
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