Judge orders owner, tenants barred from Lakewood home over meth-contamination concerns

A judge in Jefferson County last week barred a woman and her tenants from accessing a Lakewood house that was once home to a methamphetamine lab after she allegedly failed to test chosen living areas for drug residue Jefferson County General Medical requested the restraining order close to a year after an inspector unveiled traces of meth in the kitchen living room two bedrooms and elsewhere in the rental property owned by Phyllis Phillips Phillips continues to rent out units on the property to vulnerable tenants who face grave general soundness consequences from methamphetamine contamination the department wrote in its April request for the order Continued access to a methamphetamine-affected property creates a hazardous threat to masses safety and a very real and direct threat to the physical condition of the individuals now residing there The property near Colfax Avenue and Kipling Street is one of at least four used to accommodate clients of the nonprofit Ange De La Mer Alternative Medicine Foundation where Phillips serves as board president and whose programs include affordable and emergency housing Jefferson County has also demanded District Court Judge Meegan Miloud to order Phillips to pay a fine and either finish cleaning up the house at her own expense or demolish it Phillips could not be reached right away for comment Friday The meth residue was determined by an inspector hired by Phillips in May according to documents filed by the county Amounts exposed were dozens of times higher than what would require cleanup by a licensed contractor under state law Phillips paid for the decontamination of the property However in January the county wrote in a letter that more testing and possibly more decontamination work needed to be done before tenants could return Related Articles El Paso County parental evaluator accused of faking Ph D pleads guilty Weld County man sentenced to years in prison for shooting at police in Gambian torture casualties testify in Denver against member of former dictator s military Thornton officers avoid charges in fatal Lakewood shooting but DA questions their decisions Cyclist killed in crash with automobile on Colorado Boulevard in central Denver The Colorado Department of Citizens Wellness and Context wrote in March that a previously unreported bedroom and RV both occupied also required inspection as did other parts of the property since the home was ascertained to be permitted as single-family rather than a multi-family dwelling during the cleanup process At least three people were stated to be living on the property at the time according to the state The Jefferson County Board of Fitness ordered the immediate testing and cleanup of the property along with the removal of tenants March But the county wrote in its request for a court order that a new tenant had been disclosed on the property April The next hearing in the occurrence is scheduled for Wednesday Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day