Neighbors wary of Village Drive drug dealers awaiting sentencing after raid

When Lynn and Elizabeth Turner pulled out of their driveway last week to head to a sentencing hearing at the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe, one of their Village Drive neighbors had a clear message for them: We don’t want you dealing drugs around here anymore.

Lynn M. Turner

Christine Hoober, who lives two doors down from the Turners, planted a huge handmade sign in her front yard that read, “Just say NO! to drug dealers in our neighborhood.”

“I saw them slow down as they drove by, so I know they saw it,” Hoober said. “And I’m glad they did. We’re tired of this. We don’t want drugs in our neighborhood anymore.”

Prairie Village and Johnson County officers raided the Turners’ home at 7466 Village Drive in February, collecting enough evidence to charge the mother and daughter with several counts of possession and intention to distribute marijuana and prescription painkillers. The two pleaded guilty in June to some of the charges in exchange for having others dismissed.

Elizabeth W. Turner

Hoober said she and other neighbors, who had noticed strange traffic in and out of the Turners’ home for years, were assured by law enforcement that the pair would see jail time. But both posted bail and were back on Village Drive soon after the raid, leaving neighbors anxiously awaiting their sentencing, which had been scheduled for last week. But the Turners are still not behind bars: their sentencing hearing was postponed after their defense attorney failed to show up in court.

The delayed sentencing is all the more worrying to neighbors because much of the suspicious activity that clued them off to illegal activities at the house in the first place has returned, they allege. Hoober and others, who requested to remain anonymous, say several strange characters are coming and going from the house at all hours.

“Things quieted down for a while and they kept to themselves,” Hoober said. “Then they started to get bold. It’s like the drug dealers out of a movie or something. You can’t make this stuff up.”

Hoober said the return of the alleged odd activity at the house has neighbors unsettled — and that they don’t always feel like the Prairie Village police have been responsive to their calls. Hoober said she’s made at least four calls to the department about suspicious activity in the past few months, and that two others have made calls as well. Prairie Village Police Capt. Wes Lovett said dispatch logs show just one call related to the residence — a speeding complaint about one of the Turners’ boyfriends on August 25.

“We may not have responded right away depending on the call load,” Lovett wrote.

The department may have received other calls, Lovett said, but they may not have been logged as calls for service, which means they won’t show up on the dispatch logs.

Lovett said that residents who want to report suspicious activity that could be related to drugs at the house should contact Crpl. Ivan Washington at 913-642-6868 ext. 4818. Speeding issues should be reported to Sgt. James Carney at 913-385-4622. Overall concerns with police services should be addressed to Lovett at 913-385-4606.

Hoober said her main intention with coming forward is to raise awareness in the surrounding areas about the Turners’ presence.

“I want to shine a spotlight on this house, I don’t want these people to be able to hide in plain sight anymore. Because maybe if they all realize the jig is up, they’ll want to move OUT of PV,” she wrote.