LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The owner of a two-apartment property where police conducted a raid Tuesday as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation is speaking out.

The property owner, who asked not to be named because of concerns related to her ability to travel back to her home country of China, says she notified police about alleged drug activity and began working with them in mid-February – a month after she agreed to rent the property to a brother-sister duo.

Identities, charges of most in May 20 raid unknown

The rental agreement was signed on Jan. 23. Within weeks, she says neighbors were complaining about increased foot traffic to the second-floor apartment and people she referred to as “homeless” exiting and entering the property as well as staying there.

She provided 6 News with text messages from the Lansing Police Department Special Operations Division. 6 News has removed the identity of the renters, who have not been charged with any crimes, and the identity of an officer from the department.

LPD Assistant Chief Eric Pratl declined to confirm the authenticity of the text messages in an email to 6 News on Friday.

“Any such communication would be part of an active investigation and LPD will not release or comment on it,” Pratl wrote. “[The landlord] is free to share her messages, but from those screenshots, I cannot confirm the authenticity.”

City officials confirm that the property was red-tagged on Tuesday night because the basement had been flooded with sewage backup.

Difficulties at the property

The 68-year-old woman tells 6 News that she was eager to address what she says was drug trafficking. She says neighbors, including the tenants in the downstairs apartment, had been calling police. An increased presence of police patrols occurred, but still, the comings and goings continued.

The brother and sister also began to block her entrance to the property.

She says she called for police assistance to investigate a higher-than-normal water usage at the property after receiving a call from the Lansing Board of Water and Light advising her to check it.

The tenants stopped her from entering. Police said it was a civil matter.

In another instance, she was able to walk into the property and found it full of people smoking, and a man and a woman in a side room, partially unclothed.

Rental certification issues

The rental of the property to the brother and sister was done because the landlord says the duo provided her with a sad story. She says they claimed a series of health issues and a need to assist each other.

She admits she was “incompetent” in vetting the couple and renting the property, and says she also lost money on the rental of the two-bedroom apartment. She rents it out for $1200 a month plus $200 for utilities.

As 6 News reported on May 20, the property was not properly certified as a rental under Lansing’s Housing Code. She admits that’s accurate but notes the story is more complicated.

She says she changed inspection dates and meetings with Lansing Code Compliance officials. The reason? She was caring for her ailing husband who has since died.

City officials confirm portions of her story.

“The property owner paid to have a rental inspection done on Sept 13, 2023. She canceled and rescheduled several inspections over the course of nearly 6 months,” Scott Bean, city spokesman, wrote in an email to 6 News. “When it was finally inspected on Feb 28, 2024, there were several safety violations noted, and she was ordered to make repairs. She then claimed she was unable to access the property to make any repairs due to the tenants. At this time, the property does not have a valid rental certificate.”

City records show she was sent a “failure to register” violation by code officials on May 16.

The property was red-tagged on May 20 when police reported to code officials that the basement had been flooded with sewage backup. She reports that the furnace and hot water heater have to be replaced due to damage from the sewage backup as well.

After the raid

Following the May 20 raid that resulted in 9 arrests, the property was red-tagged, but it didn’t stop people from returning. On May 21, the landlord and code officials called police back to the property to remove people who were inside. Two people were removed from the home, handcuffed, and transported away by police.

Only one person has been identified as facing charges from the raid. Mikhye Bowers, 24, a resident of Lansing and was charged with resisting and obstructing police, with a case pending in district court, Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office Scott Hughes tells 6 News by email.

A second arrest tangential to the raid and investigation was also made on May 20.

Paul Mollett was arrested after he was identified by undercover officers watching the property in preparation for the raid. He was wanted on a failure to appear bench warrant. After he was arrested, police say he was found to have meth, and was charged in 54-A District Court for possession of methamphetamine.

While the property was red-tagged, and was required to be secured to prohibit entry — Lansing Code Compliance did not do so.

“This was done at the request of the property owner. She informed Code that she was going to properly secure the property as soon as possible,” Bean, the city spokesman, tells 6 News in an email. “As she was being very cooperative, she was allowed to make it secure herself and not incur a board-up fee.”

The landlord tells 6 News she asked that the property remain open so it could “air out” from the sewage in the basement.

After people were forcibly removed from the property on May 21, she paid someone one to screw the doors shut. Within hours, two men, she says, arrived and used a screw driver to allow them to enter the property.

When she called Lansing Police to report breaking and entering at the property, the officer refused to take a report.

LPD Assistant Chief Pratl says officers determined “no crime had been committed,” and therefore there was no report filed.

She had to call police again on May 22, later in the day, when she discovered more people in the red-tagged property. Once again, police made a determination that no crime had been committed, and no report was created, Pratl tells 6 News.

‘I am the victim’

She says she is frustrated that law enforcement didn’t move more quickly to end what she says was drug trafficking activity. She notes that code compliance officials can send a property owner a notice for an accumulation of trash or overgrown grass and demand correction within 7 days.

“Now you’re telling me it takes three months to get rid of the problems in the community,” she says. “Are they more severe in terms of the quality of the community than the grass?”

Ultimately, she feels like she took the action of a responsible citizen and reported what she believed to be criminal activity. She says she participated in the investigation, providing information and support to the LPD Special Operations Division. But now, without support to keep people out of her red-tagged property, she feels disrepected.

“I’m the victim here. I’m reporting the crime. I’m helping the police officers to keep the community safe. I should be praised,” she says. “I should be elevated, not make me feel that I’m causing trouble, and I’m the one that is the troublemaker instead of those that broke into my house.”

She says she is speaking out because she wants to raise awareness about the harm drug sales and criminal activity are doing to the community.

“The thing about it —the thing is that if, if the people live in that community, if those people live in the downstairs of my apartment and suffered the same thing as my tenants suffered and suffered the same thing as my neighbor suffers,” she says. “Would they do something about it?”

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