After man arrested on drug charges, neighbors want halfway house off their street

A man was caught near a Cape Coral school allegedly dealing drugs, police say.

The drug bust was just a few feet away from Cape Coral Elementary. Neighbors say they’re worried this will become a more frequent occurrence, because a halfway house recently moved in nearby.

“There’s a lot of kids in here, there’s several up and down the street that play together and they’re right in the middle, so that’s not good,” said neighbor Billy Adams.

Adams has a 6-year-old that attends the nearby school, and he just learned that his new neighbor is a halfway house.

“I don’t want them there, to be honest,” he said.

Over the weekend, Cape Coral Police arrested 24-year-old Sean Russette when they found Methamphetamine in his car, as well as syringes and scales.

Steve K. (who did not want to use his last name), the house manager for Serenity Recovery Living, says Russette was taking advantage of the members in the halfway house.

“That caused a little bit of a stink in the neighborhood and we don’t want that. That gentleman no longer lives here and that gentleman is no longer allowed on this property,” he said.

One neighbor wanted to stay anonymous for his family’s safety, but says ever since the house moved in about a month ago, there have been problems.

“I would really like to know what the zoning is for having a halfway house within so many feet of a school, because these kind of situations happen and that’s what we don’t want to see,” he said.

The house manager says they are doing their best to improve and wants his neighbors to know they are not the enemy.

“The community is very important to us around here and we don’t want to be a problem at all. And if there is a problem, we’re definitely going to fix it, we’re gonna fix it! You can count on that,” he said.

City officials say the state and federal governments regulate halfway houses, not the city.

Neighbors say they plan on starting a petition to get the house out of the neighborhood.

Russette has never lived at Serenity Recovery living.