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Abandoned Houses and Crime
After the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl at knifepoint in an abandoned , unsecured house, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office has organized a "boots on the ground" effort to identify and secure vacant properties in Marion County. The abandoned house had not been kept in a sufficiently secure conditions to keep criminals from using it for illegal purposes.
Every crime has three basic elements: an offender, a victim and a place for the crime to occur. Unsecured, vacant houses are time bombs where crime is waiting to happen. Abandoned houses contribute to:
- Narcotics sales and abuse
- Prostitution
- Convenient "hide-outs" or meeting places for criminal activity to breed
The Prosecutor's Office is joining with its law enforcement partners (Indianapolis Police Department, Marion County Sheriff's Department, Lawrence Police Department, Marion County Health and Hospital, Department of Metropolitan Development Code Enforcement and the City Prosecutor's Office) to spotlight the problem of unsecured, abandoned properties and take some common-sense measures.
Through our nuisance abatement/narcotics eviction program, we'll be contacting property owners to notify them of their responsibilities and the potential consequences of failing to maintain that property:
- Property inspections
- Fees and fines for failure to follow court-ordered clean-ups
- Potential civil or criminal nuisance actions.
For example, failure to secure a property where the owner knows drug activity is taking place could result in the filing of criminal charges such as Maintaining a Common Nuisance or Aiding, Inducing or Causing Dealing in Controlled Substances. If found guilty, such action could result in property seizures.
Prosecution is more than just "putting the bad guys away," as critical as that is. Protection of our community and prevention of future crimes are what define Prosecutor Brizzi's philosophy.
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