{"id":3181,"date":"2026-07-12T15:04:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T15:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181"},"modified":"2026-07-12T15:04:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T15:04:47","slug":"mesa-neighbors-take-action-against-suspected-drug-house-leading-to-police-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181","title":{"rendered":"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>MESA, AZ \u2014 Residents of a Mesa neighborhood say their longtime community was turned upside down after squatters took over a vacant house on Matlock Street, raising concerns about alleged drug activity and safety.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3179\">US military says it is striking Iran in response to attack on civilian vessel in Strait of Hormuz Saturday<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt needs to be torn down. It\u2019s that bad,\u201d one frustrated neighbor remarked, echoing widespread sentiment within the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>Crystal Price, a local resident, described how noisy visitors came and went at all hours. Drug paraphernalia reportedly started turning up, and neighbors complained about unbearable odors coming from the property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can tell there\u2019s been drug use,\u201d Price said.<\/p>\n<p>Dan Shumway, a father of four living next door to the problem house, agreed. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe could smell bad things. I don\u2019t know what meth smells like, but I know it doesn\u2019t smell like a normal cooking fire,\u201d Shumway explained.<\/p>\n<p>Police had limited options initially, so Price and others organized a petition and brought their concerns directly to the Mesa City Council in early June.<\/p>\n<p>Neighbors kept watch over their surroundings, and on July 2, Mesa police arrived with a SWAT team and a search warrant. Officers arrested 54-year-old Jason May, who reportedly admitted to possessing several grams of methamphetamine inside the residence. Police then boarded up the doors and windows to prevent additional squatters from entering.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3177\">Ahwatukee family says emergency plan helped save their lives<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say to anyone who has this going \u2014 you have more power than you realize. I didn\u2019t think anything could happen after the small efforts we\u2019ve made,\u201d Price said.<\/p>\n<p>May faces three felony charges related to the incident. Neighbors hope the house will be rehabilitated for new tenants or torn down entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Price encourages others facing similar challenges to be persistent and to keep seeking support from law enforcement. She also stresses the importance of staying connected with neighbors, noting that \u201cthere\u2019s strength and security in numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>This story was reported on-air by ABC15\u2019s Sean McDowell and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3175\">US aid worker in Congo infected with Ebola during record outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Residents of a Mesa neighborhood say their longtime community was turned upside down after squatters took over a vacant house on Matlock Street, raising concerns about alleged drug activity and safety<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mesa-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest - Arizona Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest - Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Residents of a Mesa neighborhood say their longtime community was turned upside down after squatters took over a vacant house on Matlock Street, raising concerns about alleged drug activity and safety\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-12T15:04:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"headline\":\"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-12T15:04:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a80c2390e0c1209a4ee3c5fa3de6db97.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Mesa News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181\",\"name\":\"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest - Arizona Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a80c2390e0c1209a4ee3c5fa3de6db97.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-12T15:04:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a80c2390e0c1209a4ee3c5fa3de6db97.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a80c2390e0c1209a4ee3c5fa3de6db97.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3181#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arizona Moving Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest - Arizona Moving Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest - Arizona Moving Insider","og_description":"Residents of a Mesa neighborhood say their longtime community was turned upside down after squatters took over a vacant house on Matlock Street, raising concerns about alleged drug activity and safety","og_url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181","og_site_name":"Arizona Moving Insider","article_published_time":"2026-07-12T15:04:47+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb"},"headline":"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest","datePublished":"2026-07-12T15:04:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181"},"wordCount":394,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a80c2390e0c1209a4ee3c5fa3de6db97.jpg","articleSection":["Mesa News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181","url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181","name":"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest - Arizona Moving Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a80c2390e0c1209a4ee3c5fa3de6db97.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-12T15:04:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a80c2390e0c1209a4ee3c5fa3de6db97.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a80c2390e0c1209a4ee3c5fa3de6db97.jpg","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3181#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mesa neighbors take action against suspected drug house, leading to police arrest"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/","name":"Arizona Moving Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}