ST. PETERSBURG — After months of surveillance, police early Tuesday morning raided a home on 35th Street N, detaining 12 people they said were involved in drugs and prostitution.
Inside 232 35th St. N, St. Petersburg police Maj. Antonio Gilliam said, SWAT, street crimes and vice officers found crack cocaine and money, including some stashed in a container in the freezer.
"The home is pretty dilapidated, the floors are dirty, there's trash scattered about," he said.
Several people, mostly women, were sitting handcuffed with plastic ties outside the home's carport Tuesday morning. Gilliam said many of the suspects have a history of prostitution.
Investigators had run surveillance on the three-bedroom, one-bath home near the east edge of Central Oak Park for months after neighbors complained of loud noises and drug dealing, Gilliam said. Undercover officers bought drugs "numerous times" from people in the house before the raid at 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, he said.
At this time, charges have been brought against five of the detained: Larry Donnell Ware, 61, for six counts of sale and possession of cocaine; Eddie Lomons Teartt, 46, for one count of sale and possession of cocaine; Terrell Andre Drayton, Sr., 33, for one count of sale and possession of cocaine; Jennifer June Runyon, 35, on an arrest warrent for cocaine possession and Amanda Lynn McLaughlin, 29, on an arrest warrant for prostitution.
Gilliam said detectives are looking for more suspects at other properties in the area.
Neighbors gathered around the scene, snapping photos and chatting about the commotion, but several declined to comment.
Gilliam said when officers entered the house Tuesday morning, some people were sleeping in the living room, others in the bedrooms, and one woman tried to jump out of a bathroom window.
Angela Headley, 24, who lives nearby, said the property was loud and people were always walking out front. It was a well known location for prostitution, she said, and sometimes men would try to pick her up on the street at night.
"I can't even walk my dogs at night sometimes because of it," Headley said.