Seven arrested in raid of suspected drug house on normally quiet Belleville street
Residents of a usually quiet Belleville neighborhood were abuzz on Thursday following an early-morning police raid of a rundown home on their street.
They described seeing an armored Humvee, unmarked police cars and more than 20 law-enforcement officers, some with long guns and many in camouflage. Windows were broken, dogs barked and a table was thrown out the door of the home on 17th Street, near Belleville Christian Center.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Emily Muskopf, 36, who has lived in the neighborhood her whole life. “It was a lot to see first thing in the morning.”
A multi-agency investigation by the St. Clair County Drug Task Force resulted in the arrest of seven people at 121 S. 17th St. Thursday morning, Sheriff’s Department Capt. Bruce Fleshren confirmed.
Unspecified quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl also were seized at the scene, he said.
“The St. Clair County Drug Task Force executed a warrant at 121 S. 17th St. on suspected drug activity and citizen complaints,” Fleshren said.
Charges have not yet been filed, but neighbors, who were awakened by the large police presence beginning at 5 a.m., say they’ve been concerned for years about suspicious activity that goes on at the home.
Muskopf said she’s been taking particular notice since last year, when one of the inhabitants was charged with a drug crime.
According to records with the St. Clair County Circuit Clerk’s office, Sarah E. Madison, 36, was arrested at the address in February 2020 on charges of felony delivery of methamphetamine. She was released from jail after posting bond and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on May 24.
It’s not clear if Madison was among those arrested Thursday.
“This was a long-time coming,” Muskopf said of the police raid. “(Madison) was arrested in February for meth. ... The police were here all the time for different disputes, and there was a fire a few months ago.”
Neighbors say armed law-enforcement officers in camouflage dress surrounded the home at about 5 a.m. The officers entered at about 8 a.m. and, shortly thereafter, began bringing out suspects.
South 17th Street is lined with older and well-maintained homes with neatly-appointed yards. The home at 121 S. 17th St. stands out for its cluttered front porch, chipped paint, loose siding and missing shingles.
Thursday morning, once the scene had cleared, curtains flapped in broken windows at the front of the home. Notices posted by the Belleville Code Enforcement Department on windows and doors declared it uninhabitable.
A broken wooden cable spool sat on its side in the front yard, and dogs could be heard barking inside.
Neighbor Kathy Rainbolt, 75, said the home seemed “more or less abandoned” by its owners, but “has different people coming and going all the time.”
“You never see the same people for very long, though,” she said. “And everybody rode a bicycle, which was weird. The bikes are still here.”
Another resident on the street, who asked not to be identified, said she also has been suspicious of people coming and going from the property.
“I don’t know what goes on in that house, but I try not to know,” she said. “... I’ve lived here for almost 50 years, and it’s always been a nice neighborhood. I’ve never had any problems.”
Rainbolt has had a similar experience. The flurry of activity next door Thursday, she said, was “the most exciting thing I’ve seen happen here.”
“It was sometime before 7 a.m. when I noticed Army-looking guys with fatigues and long guns scrambling all around the house,” she said. “I didn’t know what they were doing. They were here so long just waiting outside. I was waiting for them to go to the house and do something.”
“They eventually brought out a red-headed woman and a man and had them splayed out face down on the ground and had their hands and feet tied up … They were zip-tied, it looked like. There may have been others, I don’t know.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 12:32 PM.
