WESTMINSTER, Md. — The house on Franklin Avenue in Westminster may look like any other.
“It’s very creepy. See how everything is closed up?” asked one neighbor.
But looks can be deceiving.
“We knew something was odd,” added longtime resident William Baldwin.
In a neighborhood were everyone knows virtually everyone, no one knew exactly what was going on in the house, but they had their suspicions based on what they saw outside of it.
“At times, there might be six cars there and then there’d be weeks at a time when there was no one there,” said Baldwin.
“A couple of times, they’d come out and they’d have these hooded shirts on and kind of creep over and get in their cars and creep down the hill,” added another neighbor who did not wish to be identified.
After neighbors noticed a huge police presence outside the house a few weeks ago for what they suspect was a drug overdose, it didn’t surprise them when police returned last week with a search warrant, but it wasn’t just drugs that they found.
According to court records, they arrested 21-year-old Jacob Tyler Smith after they discovered a pair of Glock handguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition including dozens of hollow point bullets and an AK-47 assault rifle, which is banned in this country.
They also found marijuana, scales and two large cases used for transporting large quantities of cannabis, and arrested Smith’s two roommates on lesser charges.
The raid exceeded the neighbors’ suspicions.
“I always felt creepy,” added the unidentified neighbor. “I always felt like someone was watching me.”
But now it’s raised hope that their neighborhood has become a little safer since the mysterious tenants have since moved out.
“We have neighbors who really want that house,” said Baldwin. “So we’ll have new neighbors shortly I think.”
Smith is being held with no bond and faces a series of 10 charges covering drugs, ammunition and weapons, including that AK-47.
