A 32-year-old Cleveland woman allegedly made one last grocery run to a Middleburg Heights home before police arrested her on outstanding warrants. The July 14 arrest unfolded after a neighbor reported suspicious activity at the property, which authorities had come to view as a flophouse or trap house.
The woman was carrying groceries from her car into the Stroud Road home when police arrived around 5 p.m., according to Cleveland.com. The neighbor told officers that people regularly came and went, some visitors met someone outside before driving away, and hand-to-hand transactions had been seen near the property.
Police waited as wanted woman tried to stay inside
Officers ordered the woman out, but she ran back into the house and tried to escape through the back door. She also opened a window and told police she would surrender after changing her tampon, while officers waited near the rear entrance and warned that anyone else inside with active warrants could also be arrested.
The home had reportedly developed a steady stream of short-term occupants, with people staying for a night or a few days and visitors climbing through windows. Police knew several people associated with the house as drug users or buyers and identified the property as a flophouse or trap house, terms used in the report to describe a residence tied to transient activity and suspected drug sales.
Woman was wanted in Twinsburg drug-possession case
The woman ultimately surrendered and was placed in handcuffs. She was wanted in Twinsburg for possession of dangerous drugs and had several arrest warrants, Cleveland.com reported; the available account did not say whether new charges were filed in Middleburg Heights.
Middleburg Heights police list their non-emergency number as 440-243-1234 and direct residents to call 911 for emergencies, according to the city police department.
