The clean-up of a Chadwick Drive residence in Peachtree City was completed in mid-July after a long list of code violations including animal excrement and roach infestation were found. The discovery of the home’s condition was made when Peachtree City Police conducted a search of the premises in May in connection to evidence relating to a sexual battery charge against My House restaurant owner Michael Joe Ray.
Ray was contacted by The Citizen on Monday for comments, but had not responded by press time on Tuesday.
Ray, 55, was charged on May 24 with sexual battery and possessing less than an ounce of marijuana, according to Fayette County Jail records.
The events initially unfolded when police took a complaint of sexual battery filed by a female employee at the restaurant. The complaint alleged that Ray near midnight on May 11 had grabbed and/or fondled the woman’s left breast.
Police on May 24 went to Ray’s home on Chadwick Drive to serve a search warrant for the premises. Investigators were looking for a cell phone that contained information relating to the sexual battery charge, said police department spokesman Mark Brown. It was at Ray’s home that officers found the marijuana, said Brown.
Code violations in the home led city code enforcement officers to become involved. A May 25 report on the Chadwick Drive residence showed numerous violations such as animal excrement and food waste inside the home, roach infestation in portions of the house, multiple rooms with fruit flies due to decaying food, excessive trash and rubbish inside the house and in various locations on the exterior of the property and floors and carpets in need of sanitizing.
Code enforcement also noted a number of other violations relating to wiring, lighting and nearly all windows which could not be opened at the time of the inspection.
The city code enforcement officers set up a clean-up and rehabilitation schedule. The numerous items on the rehabilitation list were completed by mid-July, according to code enforcement reports.
