DA’s office deems Rankin housing complex ‘nuisance property’ after drug find

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office plans to notify the owner of a Rankin housing complex that it considers the complex a “nuisance property” after a search warrant turned up thousands of bags of suspected heroin, the office announced Thursday.

The warrant, served early Thursday at Palisades Plaza, was the culmination of a monthslong investigation, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office.

“It’s the District Attorney’s intention to notify the owner of the Palisades Housing Complex that they are operating a nuisance property that is endangering the safety of the occupants,” Manko said.

Once the owner is notified, he said, the District Attorney “will take whatever steps are appropriate to keep those residents safe.”

Manko said he couldn’t elaborate on what those steps might entail.

A representative for the apartment complex could not be reached immediately for comment.

The investigation began about two months ago when the District Attorney’s Office launched an undercover investigation into alleged trafficking around the complex, which was spurred by “recent increased violence” around the apartments.

The task force — made up of investigators from the DA’s office, state police, the Drug Enforcement Agency and a half-dozen municipal departments – found 4,000 bags of suspected heroin and fentanyl and a loaded 40-caliber Glock in one of the apartments.

That discovery led to charges being filed against Durobb Johnson Jr., 18, of Braddock, and Montell Mitchell, 27, who lives in the housing complex. Both face drug charges.

Neither was in custody as of Thursday afternoon, court records showed.