Police: Drugs and prostitution at north Raleigh home
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A police raid in Raleigh's Brier Creek has gotten the attention of homeowners in the sprawling North Raleigh community.
It's a place resident David Cole described as, "A very nice community, a lovely area."
A neighbor, Frank Mansaray, said, "It's a very, very quiet neighborhood."
Most neighbors had no idea why police were at a home on Castain Drive over the weekend.
Tuesday, ABC11 uncovered court documents with details about what police were doing at the luxury town home. Investigators were looking for evidence of drugs and prostitution.
According to a search warrant, police were first called to the house early last week for a reported disturbance.
While there, police say two residents "admitted narcotics and alcohol were being used and abused."
They claim there was also an "admittance of prostitution in conjunction with solicitation for prostitution" on a website.
After searching the residents' garbage, police say they found traces of heroin and the popular club drug "Molly" as well as hypodermic syringes.
In the end, police only cited one of the residents, 54 year-old Richard Benesti.
Resident David Cole was shocked.
"It's not something you expect to find in a neighborhood like this. We moved here expecting it to be a very safe place for our daughter and all of that and, you know, this is very disturbing," Cole told ABC11.
Mansaray had a similar reaction saying, "Appalled. I never, never would have imagined a neighborhood like this would have anything like that happening."
In the search warrant, police say they also found bank records connecting Benesti to tens of thousands of dollars' worth of bank transactions and an airline ticket for a flight back from Medellin, Colombia.
