Murder, arson and overdoses: Feds seize ‘drug house’ 450 feet from Charlotte school
A double homicide, at least four drug overdoses and a charred shed are among the criminal activities documented at a house in the 2700 block of Lytham Drive in south Charlotte.
Now the federal government is taking the property.
The U.S. Marshals Service and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department seized the home — located 450 feet from South Mecklenburg High School — after a federal judge approved prosecutors’ forfeiture bid, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte announced Wednesday in a news release
Police had been called to the residence 79 times since 2013, prosecutors said.
“The United States’ forfeiture complaint alleged that the Lytham house was the site of significant and serious drug-related criminal activity and posed a threat to the safety and welfare of the surrounding neighborhood,” the news release states.
In a 15-page complaint for forfeiture filed in February, the government described the home as “a classic drug-involved premises” prohibited under federal law as both a threat to neighbors and a taxpayer drain, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
A former neighbor who asked not to be named out of safety concerns told the Observer there were “some very strange nights.”
The house’s owner, Timothy Martin, has been convicted on various indecent exposure and public masturbation charges and is a registered sex offender, according to court documents and police records. He is currently facing charges of possessing drug paraphernalia and secret peeping, among others, prosecutors said.
Martin filed a lone claim against the government’s forfeiture order without representation from an attorney.
“The first page you sent me said I must file a verified claim like I’m supposed to know what that is,” he said in one court filing, later asking if a judge would actually see the document “or some flunkie a-hole.”
He concluded by asking for legal advice, writing, “This is so not fair.”
Prosecutors called Martin’s assertions “nonsensical” in a response brief and said he had made no attempts to correct problems with the house.
“As the government alleges in its forfeiture complaint, Timothy Martin is no innocent owner,” the brief states.
A judge struck Martin’s claim shortly thereafter and granted the government’s motion for default judgment on May 18, court filings show.
Police have paid numerous visits to the house over the years.
Prosecutors described Martin’s daughter, Krystal Martin, “as both the primary resident of the house and a habitual drug offender,” the Observer reported. Police also witnessed several other inhabitants “who appeared to be living in the house but not in any well-defined fashion,” court filings indicate.
Officers responded to a series of drug overdoses and drug-related calls at the house from 2017 to 2019, culminating in a double homicide and arson in late 2019.
A 75-year-old man was arrested there in November after four people were shot, two of whom died, WCNC reported.
One month later, prosecutors said former residents set fire to a shed “adjacent to the house.” It reportedly burned down to the frame and damaged the home as well.
The government now “faces a long to-do list for their new fixer-upper,” the Observer reported, citing at least 50 housing code violations police observed during various visits.
“Law enforcement has noted the Lytham House was a disheveled mess inside with makeshift bedrooms and clothing/personal items strewn about, as well as multiple emaciated, flea-infested cats that were losing fur wandering throughout the house,” the complaint states.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Murder, arson and overdoses: Feds seize ‘drug house’ 450 feet from Charlotte school."
