ATHENS, Ala. — The Limestone County District Attorney’s Office filed a petition in Circuit Court Monday seeking to have a property on Hall Road declared a public nuisance, citing years of drug activity, unsanitary conditions and complaints from neighboring residents.
District Attorney Brian C.T. Jones filed the petition against the estate of Paul Franklin Penn, Sr., the property’s deceased owner, as well as Jessie Mayberry, Jr. and Carolyn Johnson, believed to be Penn’s heirs and the current custodians of the property at 17285 Hall Road.
According to the petition, the property — which includes a house and multiple outbuildings — was originally intended to serve as a halfway house or residential drug treatment facility but instead devolved into what investigators described as a hub for drug use, trafficking and criminal behavior. Law enforcement reportedly discovered conditions they could only characterize as “unbelievable filth” upon inspecting the premises, including garbage, feces and drug paraphernalia…