NORWOOD, Ohio — Dana Boll wasn’t sorry to see the Norwood Drug Task Force at her neighbor’s door Thursday afternoon. According to her, the presence of 30-year-old Eric Sarver — now charged with drug possession, drug trafficking and having of weapons under disability — had been a stubborn dark mark on Elsmere Avenue for years.
“Maybe some champagne is in order,” she said Thursday night. “Maybe a block party.”
Court documents indicate Sarver sold heroin, methamphetamine, dextroamphetamine and various other pharmaceutical drugs in a home fewer than two blocks from Williams Avenue Elementary School. An anonymous tip led investigators to his door in early April.
“This investigation is police work 101,” said one undercover sergeant, who asked that WCPO not disclose his identity to protect his other investigations. “This is what happens when the community gets involved and communicates with the police department.”
He and other investigators staked out the home, where they saw the same things Boll reported seeing: People who walked in and walked out within minutes; money changing hands. Sarver’s business had begun to kindle other crime in the area, including theft, according to the undercover sergeant.
The presence of a school nearby and two small children inside the home itself meant police needed to work fast, he added. They did, staking out the scene every day for 45 days until serving their search warrant Thursday.
Boll, who moved to Elsmere Avenue in 2002, said she and her other neighbors had worked for years to make it a safer, more beautiful place to live. They planted trees. They started a community garden.
“You can imagine how frustrating it is, having a property like that two doors down,” she said, adding: “(Now) I’m going to be able to walk by that house and breathe easy, absolutely, and I thank the Norwood police for it.”
Sarver will appear in court Friday morning.
