GOLD BAR — The ramshackle little house on U.S. 2 near a state fish hatchery has been the object of community and police concern for years.
There have been police raids and search warrants aplenty, and undercover officers have made numerous drug buys at the location. The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has held community meetings to air neighbors’ concerns.
Any danger posed by the home itself and the people that occupied it may be quelled now that Snohomish County has earned a court order seizing the house, several other buildings and the 4 or 5 acres on which they sit.
On Wednesday, what has been a long criminal investigation and legal battle came to a partial conclusion when members of the Snohomish County Regional Drug Task force and prosecutors boarded up the structure’s doors and windows and placed large "No trespassing" signs around the property.
The county now owns the property, and anyone venturing there is subject to arrest.
The act symbolized "a lot of hard work by law enforcement" in the Skykomish Valley, said Pat Slack, who heads the task force.
The drug house was the first seized by the county in which the drug methamphetamine was produced and sold. Meth labs usually are in rented homes or apartments, Slack said.
"This goes a long way to show rural Snohomish County that we care and we will do what we can within the judicial system to protect them," Slack said Wednesday.
The property was owned by Steven Ray Delvecchio, 46, who in October was sentenced to 10 years in prison for making and dealing methamphetamine. It’s a drug in demand, but the residue chemicals used in producing it are dangerous to human health.
The next step will include a health evaluation of the structures and the surrounding land to determine how much chemical hazard exists. Then the buildings will be razed and the land sold, Slack said.
He doesn’t know how things will go, but local residents have already contacted police volunteering a bulldozer or dump truck to haul away the debris. Slack sees that as an opportunity to empower the neighborhood.
Al Gehri a deputy prosecutor who ushered the seizure process through the court, said Delvecchio had been using and making meth on the property since 1996.
Under state law, government has the right to seize property that has been used to sell and manufacture illegal drugs, including meth.
The lawsuit that got the ball rolling was filed in 2002, but action was delayed until Delvecchio was convicted and sentenced, Gehri said. The Snohomish Health Department has declared the property unfit for human use.
With cleanup and clearing the land still ahead, Slack sees Wednesday’s action as just a step in restoring the property.
"It’s like reading a book," Slack said. "This is just another chapter."
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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