CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte community says they are tired of seeing rampant drug activity taking place in their neighborhood, which is tarnishing the area.
Despite multiple calls to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, residents say crimes are just getting worse behind a gas station in west Charlotte.
“This area is being overlooked,” property owner George Moreland said. “They loiter in large numbers, addicts sprinkled with some drug dealers there."
Moreland added that illegal activity can be seen behind his property and near the gas station off Remount Road and West Boulevard at all hours of the day and night.
"They are not hiding it,” Moreland said. “It’s in the wide open for everyone to see.”
Others who work in the area called it dangerous and unsafe for everybody. Moreland owns two duplexes and says it's difficult to get them rented when crimes are happening right at their back doors.
“They are fixed up real pretty on the inside,” Moreland said. “People will come and look at them but people don’t want to rent them because of the activity going on.”
The gas station owner said he has cameras all around and calls the police, but it’s not slowing down criminal activity.
“We have our private security that gets scared, my employees get beat up, my windows get shattered when I stop service,” the owner told WCNC Charlotte. “I even had a gun pulled on me just because I told them to leave my lot.”
Moreland wants the police to step up its presence.
“My property has zone checks, meaning the police have my permission to come onto my property and run the guys off whenever they can. But I’m getting feedback from there that they are understaffed,” Moreland said. “This is ongoing, and the fact that I still have to clean up, monitor, and sometimes ask them to leave, why can’t [police] do that, why can’t they be more visible on that?”
CMPD said they are aware of the issues, have made several arrests in the area, and are working with business owners, property owners and code enforcement to try to find a resolution.
Contact Jesse Pierre at jpierrepet@wcnc.com or follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.