Lonsdale Residence Closed after Multiple Overdoses

Prosecutors in DA Charme Allen’s Felony Drug Unit and investigators with the Knoxville Police Department Organized Crime Unit and Drug Related Death Task Force closed a residence that has been the scene of multiple overdoses and dozens of calls for service.  1523 Minnesota Avenue was closed today by order of Judge Steve Sword under the state nuisance law.

According to a petition filed by General Allen, the residence has been a haven for drug use, quarreling, breaches of the peace, drug sales, and medical emergencies related to drug usage including two drug overdose deaths.  KPD officers have responded to more than eighty calls for service at the residence.  Additionally, detectives used informants to purchase drugs from within the residence and executed a search warrant where they discovered cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, marijuana, and multiple firearms.  Drug dealing continued at the residence even after the search warrant, leading to the nuisance injunction today. 

The Drug Related Death Task Force is a multi-agency investigation and prosecution team that examines overdoses that occur in this jurisdiction as a means to combat the opiate epidemic. The goal of the task force is to decrease overdoses by holding drug dealers accountable when their drug trafficking leads to overdose deaths and by gaining intelligence about the opiate epidemic that can be used by member agencies and others to fight this ever-increasing problem.  Using the state nuisance law is one way to help fight the problem.

This nuisance injunction marks the sixty-third closure by the District Attorney’s Office and Knoxville Police Department in their ongoing collaboration to make neighborhoods safer from the activities that affect the safety and quality of life of residents in this community. 

If you have any questions, please contact Sean McDermott at 865-215-2515 or Sean.McDermott@knoxcounty.org. For more information about the District Attorney’s Office, visit our website at dag.knoxcountytn.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.