Published: May 22, 2008 10:32 am      

House of Israel's Robert Fox arrested

By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

A team of armed Jacksonville Police Department officers entered the House of Israel building on Main Street on Thursday morning — the second raid in a week.

JPD made forcible entry into the building; this time arresting Robert Fox, the man believed to be caretaker of the building.

“At 9 a.m. we executed search and arrest warrants on the House of Israel building. We had four arrest warrants for Mr. Fox for possession of dangerous drugs, and we found him hiding in the back of the building,” said Police Chief Reece Daniel. “We also had a search warrant to search the entire premises for drugs and for any type of evidence that would indicate the sale of drugs or anything of that nature. That gives us the ability to go through the whole building.”

In addition to the building, Daniel said the police have warrants allowing them to search the two 18-wheel trailers and all vehicles associated with the House of Israel.

Witnesses of the raid said the police knocked on the doors to the building and gave Fox several minutes to open up before they broke through the glass door and entered.

The warrants stem from the May 15 raid of the building, when nearly 10,000 illegal prescription pills were confiscated from the site. Fox claimed the drugs are left over from a dentist operation that previously used the building, and that he didn’t even know they were there. During last week’s raid, David Baugh of Missouri was arrested for violating his parole.

Daniel said the building was being used as a residence by the members of the House of Israel, which, if true, would be a violation of the city’s zoning regulations.

“Inside it is set up as a living quarters for five or six people; with a living room, a big-screen television, computers, beds and bathrooms. Since this is a business area; that’s illegal, and I’ve got code enforcement coming to take a look at that,” Daniel said.

The police also detained an unidentified woman who was present inside the building when the search was executed.

“A women claiming to be from Canton is being detained until we can get some good identification on her. We want to know what her involvement is with these folks before we turn her loose,” Daniel said. “If we find she’s not wanted for anything, we will then release her and let her go.”

According to Daniel, it will be no small feat for his officers to completely search the building.

“All we did this morning was clear the building and get the people out of it. We haven’t even started to search the inside yet. It’s probably going to be a full-day process because it’s a big place and it’s like a rabbit hutch in there,” he said.