Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader
A Slave Lake house with a bad reputation got shut down by Alberta Sheriffs last week. Located on 3rd St. SW, the rented property was known for drug use and trafficking – it had also been the site of two deaths in the past year.
Just recently, someone died from an overdose at the rented home. Last year, someone was stabbed to death on the front lawn.
According to a news release, the court order to evict the tenants and close off the house for 90 days came via the Alberta Sheriffs’ SCAN (Safer Communities And Neighbourhoods) unit. The order was granted a week earlier than its execution, which took effect on June 28.
According to the SCAN release, the investigation into the property began last fall, after numerous complaints from neighbours. In October, a warning letter was issued to the owner of the property, who does not live in Slave Lake.
In spite of that, “drug activity continued,” says the release.
RCMP searched the property in January of this year, finding small amounts of fentanyl and carfentanyl. They laid charges against one occupant. Meanwhile, the illegal (and dangerous) activity continued, as evidenced by the death by overdose of a person in the house this spring.
The 90-day closure isn’t the end of the story.
For two years, it will remain under the SCAN unit’s supervision. Anyone wishing to rent the property will be vetted by the sheriff in charge of the file.
The release says since the inception of SCAN 13 years ago, more than 5,800 properties have been investigated. The majority of complaints are resolved by working with property owners, it says.
But not this one.
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