Three charged in connection to raid at suspected Belleville drug house
Three of seven people taken into custody during an early-morning raid of a rundown Belleville house on Thursday now face drug-related charges from the St. Clair County state’s attorney’s office.
An investigation by the St. Clair County Drug Tactical Unit continues and additional charges may be filed, said Sheriff’s Department Capt. Bruce Fleshren. The four others arrested during the raid were released.
Charged Friday were Sarah E. Madison, 36, who resides at the raided house at 121 S. 17th St. She was arrested at the same address in February of 2020 and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on charges of felony delivery of methamphetamine on May 24.
Madison now faces five additional charges, including three counts of delivering meth and one count each of unlawful use of a building for drug manufacturing and possession of a control substance.
She was being held at the County Jail on $50,000 bond.
Also charged were Jeremy T. Sehr, 36, 315 S. 6th St., Belleville, on a single count of possessing meth; and Shelby W. Smith, 42, 205 Bernard Dr., Belleville, on one count each of meth possession and possessing a controlled substance.
Sehr was held on $20,000 bond while Smith was held on $50,000 bond.
At 6:52 a.m. Thursday, the Tactical Drug Unit executed a search warrant on the property after numerous citizen complaints, Fleshren said. Law-enforcement officers recovered unspecified substances believed to be meth and fentanyl, police said, and arrested seven people.
Neighbors described to Belleville News-Democrat reporters their suspicions about those who inhabited the house, as well as the raid as it unfolded Thursday.
Emily Muskopf, 36, who has lived in the neighborhood her whole life, estimated seeing more than 20 officers at the scene, some with “long guns” and many dressed in camouflage.
Windows were broken out of the front of the house and a table was thrown from the front door, left broken and on its side in the front yard, said Kathy Rainbolt, 75, who lives next door.
Muskopf and Rainbolt both said they have observed multiple people coming and going from the house at different times of day.
“You never see the same people for very long, though,” Rainbolt said.
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 house. Notices posted by the Belleville Code Enforcement Department on windows and doors declared it uninhabitable. Dogs could be heard barking from the inside.
“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.”
The St. Clair County Drug Tactical Unit is comprised of officers from the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, Belleville Police, Swansea Police and Milstadt Police.
This story was originally published May 7, 2021 at 3:51 PM.
