Deputy: "It was a Motel Room, It was a Crack House"

Sumter County (WLTX) - Sometimes disaster rides into your town and there's nothing you can do about the damage: it's done. That's been the case for 76-year-old Willie Mae Murray for the two years she's lived at her home in Cherryvale. "It's awful, it's really awful," she said. "It looks bad."

Recently, the land beside her home featured five abandoned trailers that attracted the worst bits and pieces of her community.

"There's drug dealers going in and out those trailers when the police get behind them," she said. "I always thought, 'Maybe they'll come over on this side.' I'm just really scared of 'em."

Sgt. Randy Wright with the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said Murray had good reason to be afraid. "It was a breeding ground for badness," he explained. "None of [the trailers] were secure. None of them had windows. The doors were wide open...It was a motel room. It was a crack house. It was whatever. It was free."

But ownership of the lot has changed, and Wright said it's finally a landlord who's willing to get rid of what's wrong in the area. "I know it looks bad, but to me it looks good because we're halfway there," Wright added about the debris-covered land. "If we get this stuff cleaned up, which we will, we'll be home free."

"I was just getting ready to move because I couldn't stay over here with that mess going on out there," Murray said. "I might decide to stay a little bit longer."

The landowner has until the end of the month to clean up the lot.

To keep Cherryvale clean after that, the sheriff recently assigned an extra officer to the area to help those who already do periodic patrols there.

To report a crime in your neighborhood, call Crimestoppers at 1-888-559-TIPS.