MACON, Ga. — Will the M&M Food Mart on Montpelier Avenue be shut down again?
That's what Macon-Bibb County is saying they want after taking the store to court again.
The court ordered the grocery store to close last September after the county called it a center for serious criminal activity. However, a judge later reopened it pending the store owners follow specific regulations.
Prosecutor County Attorney David Cooke says the store owners have violated the court-ordered regulations they agreed to follow in order to re-open.
The county says the store is a breeding ground for crime, and the only way to stop it is to shut it down.
Bibb County Sheriff's Sergeant Santel Smith testified about alleged criminal activity at M&M Food Mart.
“When you're talking about 2670 Montpelier Avenue, we're looking at what's called an open air drug market,” Smith explains.
According to the Department of Justice, an ‘open air market’ is the lowest level of selling narcotics and drugs, which naturally attracts other crimes.
“What falls into that category is noise, disorderly conduct, begging or panhandling, loitering, vandalism, and drug usage,” Smith explains.
He says they've gotten complaints about the M&M since it reopened in March, ranging from shootings, drug activity, and aggravated assaults.
Cooke says the mart has failed to report these crimes, and violating court-ordered regulations has contributed to criminal activity.
That includes being open past 11 p.m. and failing to report to law enforcement when someone is on the property for longer than 10 minutes with no business in the store.
Cooke also says that data gathered by Smith showed that whether the store was open before court regulations, during its closure, and after its reopening – it still had more crime surrounding it compared to the four other stores on the same street.
“It doesn't matter if it's spring, summer, winter or fall, there's drug dealing at that store. There's shootings at that store. It's going to keep happening until we shut the store down,” Cooke says.
Defense attorney Brian Jarrard admits the store hasn't followed regulations perfectly. However, he says the Bibb County Sheriff's office has been video monitoring the store in real-time since March.
He says their response has been ineffective.
“They have certainly tried to cooperate with law enforcement and law enforcement has simply been unable to get a handle on the crime in the neighborhood,” Jarrard explains.
Jarrard says just shutting the store down would not stop crime. He says that would also take away resources to a low-income area.
“There is clearly a limit to what private business can do where law enforcement must pick up,” he says.
Prosecution is looking for the store to be fully closed until the final hearing. The defense is asking the court to keep the same court-ordered regulations including a new closing time for the store of 8 p.m.