Officers from the Festus Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office surrounded a house in the 300 block of North Third Street in Festus on Dec. 19 while they served a “high-risk search warrant,” Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said.
He said authorities suspected there had been drug-dealing at the home and were seeking a 36-year-old man who lives there. The man was not home at the time, and authorities were still seeking him as Dec. 20, Lewis said
“Three people were in the house at the time. None were arrested,” Lewis added.
He said the situation was considered high risk “because there was a threat of weapons in the house.”
Lewis also said authorities needed to be cautious because children were known to live in the house.
He said officers arrived at the home around 2 p.m. and searched the premises until about 6:30 p.m.
“The search warrant was the culmination of a long-term drug investigation in which numerous controlled drug purchases had occurred at the residence,” Lewis said. “(Undercover police) had made the drug purchases.”
He said Festus Police will soon seek charges against the 36-year-old man through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Anyone with information about the suspect’s whereabouts is urged to call the Festus Police at 636-937-3646.