Mobile police obtained a court order closing a home on Juniper Street for the second time in six months after officers descended on the property Friday afternoon and arrested more than 15 people, according to the Mobile Police Department.
The house at 1303 Juniper Street, near Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and known locally as the “Skin House,” has drawn repeated police attention over the past year. Friday’s sweep marked the fourth raid on the property since February and the second time a judge has issued an order barring people from entering the home since June.
During an earlier sweep on June 5, officers arrested 24 people on charges including simple gambling and loitering for the purpose of drug activity. A judge subsequently deemed the property a “drug-related nuisance” and issued a temporary restraining order closing it. In August, Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Rick Stout allowed the homeowner, identified in court records as Falando Wills, to temporarily reopen the house for repairs. City officials withdrew their case against Wills in September after several months passed without reported incidents at the address.
New complaints began reaching narcotics detectives in October, according to a complaint authorities filed in court on Dec. 5. Mobile Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Rains said investigators had continued monitoring the location even after the case was dropped. “We constantly go back and check places,” Rains said. “Since June, we’ve made drug buys, gambled and played card games for money at the location.”
Everyone arrested during Friday’s raid is expected to face charges of simple gambling, according to police. Detectives said additional details on the charges, including whether any drug-related counts would be added, were expected to be released early the following week.
Rains described the property as a persistent problem for the surrounding neighborhood. “It is a constant nuisance,” she said, pointing to the repeated cycle of closures, reopenings and new complaints that has played out at the address since the start of the year.
Police were scheduled to appear before Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Charles Graddick later in December for a hearing on the latest court order, as the city continues weighing how to permanently address the property’s history of gambling and drug complaints.