HAMMOND TO TARGET LANDLORDS IN DRUG SALES

HAMMOND -- The city government will start filing lawsuits this week against
landlords who haven't stopped the sale of drugs from their property,
officials said Tuesday.

The suits, based on the same law the city used in a case involving the
Magnolia Motel last year, may result in property being shut down for five
years, Mayor Louis Tallo said.

The lawsuits will involve sites where city police made undercover drug buys
and subsequent arrests, said Doug Brown, the city's in-house attorney.

Tallo said the city has sent certified letters to a number of landlords
notifying them that sales of drugs have occurred on their property. Some of
the landowners have responded positively.

"If property owners work with us, we are working with them," Tallo said. In
other cases, the property owners have maintained no drug sales have been
conducted on their property, but the city has videotaped evidence to the
contrary, Brown said.

Louisiana Revised Statute 13:471 gives cities the right to sue property
owners for an injunction prohibiting future drug activity and to obtain a
court order closing the property for five years, Tallo said.

Even if they can't use the property, owners remain liable for upkeep and
for payment of taxes during the five years, he said.

To shut down the use of property, the city must show that the owners are
aware of criminal activity.

Through the letters, the city has notified the owners of that activity,
Brown said.

In some cases, the drug sales are so obvious that the landowners would have
difficulty establishing they didn't know what was going on, the attorney said.

Since the cases are civil, the burden of proof on the government isn't as
great as in a criminal case, Brown said.

The suits also move quickly through the court system, with a judge
determining within 24 hours whether to issue an order for the owner to stop
the illegal activity. The judge then acts within 10 days on a long-term
solution to the problem, which may include shutting down the property for
five years, Brown said.

In the case of the Magnolia Motel in Hammond, a 21st Judicial District
judge issued a permanent injunction against the owners of the motel.

The injunction ordered them to stop prostitutes and drug dealers from using
the premises. The judge allowed the motel operators to post a $30,000 bond
to remain in business.

Since the posting of that bond in August, the prostitution at that location
has stopped and drug activity appears nonexistent, Brown said.

The law has been used successfully in other jurisdictions, including Baton
Rouge, and has been upheld as constitutional, the attorney said.

The city will proceed against the property owners one at a time, since the
cases can be handled so quickly, Brown said.

He said he is preparing the first three cases and expects to file the first
one this week.

Brown said he has a substantial number of similar cases to follow.

"We want to eliminate the market place," he said.

The Hammond Police Department conducted undercover drug buys at the various
properties during a five-month period, making about 70 arrests, Brown said.

"The city is taking a two-pronged approach," Brown said.

The drug offenders have been turned over to the 21st Judicial District
Attorney's Office for prosecution, while the city is taking the separate
action against property owners who allow drug sales to continue, he said.

Tallo said he has asked District Attorney Scott Perrilloux to aggressively
prosecute the criminal cases and "seek actual jail time" against the
dealers of crack cocaine.