For years law enforcement officials have received complaints about loud parties, public urination and alcohol violations at 203 Watts St., near East Campus.
In fact, the residence is the most-cited house for noise and alcohol complaints in all of Durham, according an e-mail sent out by Durham Police Department officials.
The most recent incident-a party Saturday-resulted in charges for noise ordinance and open container violations against the house's seven residents, all of whom are Duke seniors.
Officials obtained a search warrant and took five of the seven residents into custody Sunday morning. All were released after posting $1,000 bail each.
As of Monday, police were still looking for seniors Jason Matthews and Mike Kenney, who live in the house. DPD has issued warrants for their arrests.
The residents were allegedly in violation of city zoning laws in addition to the noise and alcohol charges.
In the search Sunday, evidence was collected to aid in prosecution of the charges stemming from Saturday's party. Police confiscated a kegerator, beer bong tubing and a rare flag that had been reported stolen from the Allen Building.
Seniors Justin Bieber, Kevin Breaux, Jeff Goldfarb, Urosh Tomovich, Josh Weinstein, Kenney and Matthews live in the house. Several residents of the house declined to comment Tuesday.
DPD Sgt. M.D. Gottlieb alerted residents in the area about Saturday's events.
"There were reports of subjects urinating on houses across the street, throwing beer cans on neighbors' lawns, loud music, public consumption of beer on the street and sidewalk, and people breaking beer bottles in the street and on the sidewalks," he wrote in an e-mail posted to the Partners Against Crime District 2 e-mail list.
Police also reported that a student threw a 40-ounce bottle at a neighbor who asked people at the party to pick up trash they had thrown on her lawn.
Gottlieb also posted a message from City-County Planning Director Frank Duke to the e-mail list saying too many people are living in the house.
Notices of that violation were issued Monday to the landlord, Guy Solie, and each of the tenants.
Matthews met with Gottlieb and Cpt. Ed Sarvis Oct. 5. He told them he has been arrested four times and cannot afford to keep going to jail, according to the e-mail from Gottlieb.
According to the e-mail, Matthews told the officers there were six people on the lease, but seven people were actually living at the house.
He told police he gave neighbors the names and phone numbers of the students living in the house and asked neighbors to call them before they called police about disturbances.
Sue Wasiolek, assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students, said administrators were aware of the disturbances and will look into taking disciplinary action.
She also noted that she has been trying to ease the tensions between students and neighbors for several years.
"My records indicate that I've been working on this particular issue since 1987," she said. "I think the neighborhood associations and the neighbors have been very, very patient."
Wasiolek said that merely asking students to be good neighbors is not always effective. "I don't know that police and University intervention are going to work, but I think we are at the point where we think we need to try," she said.
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