Charges filed against 2 brothers in White Center ‘drug house’ case
We have the court documents this morning in a case first reported last night by seattlepi.com – two suspects charged with drug violations in connection with what authorities call a “drug house” in the 10400 block of 8th SW. The charges are filed against 51-year-old Charles Whitney Nelson and his 54-year-old brother Vance Mclay (aka Martin Nelson).
According to court documents, the King County Sheriff’s Office first got a complaint about the house in August 2008; the suspected drugs were heroin and meth. They checked on the area and “contacted” people from time to time, including surveillance and two arrests in December 2008; after that, the court documents say, activity “declined” – till early 2010. June 30th of last year was a pivotal date, according to the charging papers; a deputy and detectives parked nearby, watched comings and goings, and started stopping and arresting people. Then they discovered a three-year-old boy was in the house, grandson of Charles Nelson. Checking inside, the KCSO team found what they summarized as “overwhelming filth, dangerous drugs and paraphernalia” and took the child into protective custody. They talked to Nelson and Mclay, who acknowledged the drug activity and promised to clean things up. They didn’t, according to numerous subsequent visits by law enforcement that are detailed in the court papers, and a raid last December netted 13 arrests.
Each brother faces two charges resulting from the court documents summarizing countless KCSO visits. King County Jail records show that Charles Nelson was in jail for a little more than one day after the mid-December raid; he has been jailed twice since then, once for about a day for a public-nuisance charge, once for half a day for criminal trespass. Mclay (Martin Nelson) also spent one day in jail after the mid-December raid, and half a day since then for criminal trespass. Both are reported to have criminal records going back into the ’80s.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
April 25th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
If I am reading this correctly, two men and a grandson are dealing meth, heroin are living in overwhelming filth and reside in a residential neighborhood within King County Sheriffs’ jurisdiction spending only 2 1/2 days in jail for their crimes.
I would say in this instance, the advantages of the crime(s) committed, far out-ways the punishment.
April 25th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
The grandson is just a little kid and not accused of anything. But yes, from everything I can find in online records, that’s all the time the suspects have spent in jail so far. And I’m sorry I can’t just upload the court documents – they contain the names of witnesses and others that we would not disclose, beyond the suspects – because the number of incidents and visits to the house by law enforcement is relatively staggering.
April 25th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
wow…our judicial system can only go with law and are not the law makers…I bet KCSO is appauled too. Seems like KCSO’s hands are cuffed, arrest for what… a day in jail? Makes no sense. Stricter laws would be nice!
April 30th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
[…] (Wedgwood View) Medical marijuana: Governor vetoes parts of regulation bill (West Seattle Blog) Charges filed against 2 brothers in White Center ‘drug house’ case (White Center Now) Share this:ShareFacebookEmailDiggStumbleUponReddit Filed under News blog […]