WOMAN, 88, CHARGED IN DRUG CASE

CHAPEL HILL -- Police charged an 88-year-old woman Tuesday with allowing
her house to be used for drug deals, but the chief of police said the
charge was filed as a last-ditch attempt to help the woman keep dealers
from using her home as their base of operations.

Lucressia Fearrington of 602 Nunn Street in the Northside neighborhood
received a summons to appear in Orange County Court to face the felony
charge of maintaining a dwelling to keep or sell controlled substances. The
public defender's office was assigned to represent her.

"We did not place her under arrest," said Chapel Hill Police Chief Gregg
Jarvies.

Fearrington is wheelchair-bound and lives in the home, which police say
often has been the center of drug sales in the Northside neighborhood. Just
this week, 18-year-old Frederick M. Edwards, of 1169 Jack Bennett Road,
Pittsboro, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver
crack cocaine, possession of marijuana, communicating threats and
resisting, delaying and obstructing a police officer for allegedly selling
drugs out of the home, Jarvies said.

"Mrs. Fearrington was charged after several incidents involving narcotics
occurred at her property," Jarvies said. "She has not been charged with any
crime involving the sale or distribution of drugs [herself], but her house
is being used by many people who are involved in the sale and distribution
of drugs."

Police officers and the woman's family members have tried to convince
Fearrington to restrict who comes and goes from her home, but the dealers
instead have convinced her to trust them and be suspicious of police
officers and her own family members, Jarvies added.

"Her family members have been trying and have been stymied by people who
are essentially controlling her life," the chief said.

Fearrington did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Police have witnessed people selling drugs out the back window of her home,
and on Tuesday, they found rocks of crack cocaine in the ceiling above the
back door of the house next to the window, authorities said.

The environment is not safe for Fearrington, Jarvies said. "We've made
arrests there that involved guns and weapons," he pointed out.

"Our hope, with the district attorney's office and the rest of the court
system, is to help her maintain her property and keep the drug dealers
out," Jarvies said. "One of the items we discussed was some legal
assistance to help her understand how she can better control access to her
property. We hope that the courts can assign her some legal assistance."

The drug dealers provide minimal but inadequate care for the woman and buy
her food. She has resisted help from her family and agencies who could
provide proper food or health care services, Jarvies said.

"She is ... essentially relegated to a small portion of her house," he
added. "They [drug dealers] basically have the run of the house."

Orange County District Attorney Carl Fox said he is restricted from talking
about the case since Fearrington is now a defendant, but he confirmed he
had discussed the situation with the Chapel Hill police.

When Edwards was arrested, he possessed six rocks of crack cocaine and some
marijuana, and when police officers tried to arrest him, he attempted to
swallow the crack cocaine and refused to open his hand up, the arrest
warrants said. He also was charged with communicating threats for pointing
his hand at a woman, not Fearrington, as though it was a gun and saying,
"Bang, bang, bang," the warrant alleged.

When Edwards made his first appearance in Orange County District Court
Monday, he was released on $5,000 unsecured bond. He told court officials
he lived at 206 Nunn St., so he was given permission to return to that
address, but was ordered to stay off the streets in the neighborhood around
that residence.

Police actually wanted Edwards to be banned from returning to Fearrington's
home, but Fox, who was busy in Superior Court Monday morning, didn't get
the message from a police officer about the request until later that
afternoon. By then Edwards had been released on an unsecured bond with
permission to return to 206 Nunn St.

But Edwards made a mistake when he gave his address on Nunn Street by
saying it was 206 instead of 602. There is no 206 Nunn St., and when he
returned to Fearrington's home at 602 Nunn St., he was arrested for
violating the release conditions of his bond, Jarvies said.

"That was a lucky mistake," Fox said.