Sheriff announces plans for Larson Housing area

EPHRATA - Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones announced plans to hold homeowners in the Larson Housing area accountable for crimes committed on the properties they own.

At Wednesday's town hall meeting in Ephrata, Sheriff Jones informed the public of his plans to curb crime in the Larson Housing area.

Jones and his department will do this by targeting homeowners in Larson.

"Where we run into problems with Larson, and a lot of other communities that have several homes in them, is the vacant homeowners," Jones said.

According to Jones, there are about 1,200 homes in the Larson area. Of the 1,200 homes, only 300 are owner-occupied, 400 are overseen by the Grant County Housing Authority and the remaining 500 are absentee owners.

"We have so many that are rented out and the owners themselves are taking care of the properties, but they live in Seattle and come over here twice a year. Its cheaper for them to kick them out, remodel the whole thing and re-rent it out," Jones said.

The Sheriff's Office has been fielding numerous calls about the poor conditions of some of the houses in Larson, which Jones believes adds to the area's crime problem.

In March, Jones announced plans that he was going to be meeting with several Moses Lake realtors to help deal with this problem.

On Wednesday, Jones announced he connected with area realtors.

"Currently we are working with four real estate agencies in Moses Lake, who have about 300 homes they oversee for absentee owners. Right now we are working with them, so we can somewhat hold the homeowners accountable for the actions of their tenants," Jones said.

Jones noted it would be a process to hold the homeowners accountable, but assured the audience his department was working in that direction.