Threatened with a sword, Port Royal resident and neighbors demand answers and safety

It was about 9 p.m. on a February evening when Joe Ciccone’s 9-year-old told him that a man was trying to steal a truck parked at their Port Royal Home. The man appeared to be armed with a crowbar. When Ciccone went to investigate, he found a man who was armed with a sword, not a construction tool. The man was dressed in black and wearing what looked like a “ninja mask.” Ciccone, a firefighter and emergency medical technician, is no stranger to dicey situations. When Ciccone confronted the intruder, the man brandished the sword and Ciccone’s training kicked in and he tackled and then knocked out the prowler and held him until police arrived.

The man Ciccone had subdued was a resident of a house run by MercyMe Sober Living. Up to 10 men at a time live at the house located on Pennyroyal Way while they recover from alcohol and drug addictions.

Weeks later, Ciccone is still miffed how the sober house ended up in the Shadow Moss neighborhood in the first place and how its being run and regulated now.

“Is this the wild wild west?” he says. “I don’t really know.”

Ciccone shared the story of the encounter with members of the Port Royal Town Council Feb. 14 when he and other Shadow Moss residents spoke about a string of unsettling incidents related to that house. Those incidents, all occurring since January, have them raising public safety concerns and questioning the wisdom of allowing a sober house within a residential neighborhood. They also raised questions about adequate supervision and who is responsible for regulating such facilities.

MercyMe Sober Living is a Beaufort-based not-for-profit that runs the Port Royal sober house. James Fordham, the founder, says it would be a mistake to use a broad brush to paint the men who live at the house as troublemakers because of one incident.

Since the concerns were raised, MercyMe’s Fordham says he’s taken to staying at the house a few nights a week to keep a watch over the house. Drug screenings and background checks also have been stepped up.

There is “zero tolerance,” Fordham says, for men who use alcohol or other substances, and a 7 p.m. curfew is in place, when the doors are locked. But, he added, “we got careless.”

The incident with the sword, Fordham said, “put us on the radar,” and, unfortunately, has residents thinking “we are all like that.” But Fordham says that’s not the case and he does not want to lose the house because of the actions of one person.

The man who tried to take Ciccone’s vehicle Feb. 6 has a criminal record and told authorities he had consumed alcohol from drinking hand sanitizer, according to a police report.

The mission of the not-for-proft is assisting people in recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. The Shadow Moss house provides a “safe, clean environment” and affordable housing for men in 12-step recovery. Some of the residents receive medication-assisted treatment as prescribed by physicians. Nestled in a quiet neighborhood, the “Freedom Men’s House,” as it’s called, is supervised by a house manager.

“We want these guys to have an opportunity to experience life, to get out of the kind of neighborhoods they’ve been in,” Fordham said. “We want them to be motivated to turn their lives around.”

But residents say that it is multiple visits by police and medical personnel to the house since the first of the year, not a single incident, that has them fearing for their safety, especially for the well-being of their children.

Additional visits by police and medical personnel include:

▪ An ex-resident who showed up at the house Jan. 14 and caused a disturbance after alleging his financial account information had been stolen to make large financial purchases. The man was issued a trespass notice.

▪ A man who seemed to be intoxicated who was taken to the hospital Jan. 28.

▪ A suspicious person who appeared to be intoxicated looking in vehicle windows Feb. 13. Officers found the man inside the sober house. No evidence of vehicle tampering was found.

▪ A man who complained of health issues as a result of drug use and was transported to the hospital on Feb. 28.

“I understand this may not be a high priority to you because it is not in your front yard,” Jessica Green, a neighbor of the sober house, told town council members at last month’s meeting. “My question for you as elected officials, ‘What are you going to do to help us feel safe again?’”

Port Royal Mayor Kevin Phillips assured the residents the town would be looking into the situation.

On Tuesday, Town Manager Van Willis told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that the town is evaluating whether the facility is compliant with town codes. The town, he said, already has issued a citation to the home for not having a business license.

That case is pending in court. “Without a proper license, they can not operate,” Willis said.

Where is the homeowners’ association on this issue?

The homeowner’s association has declined to make a statement about the situation at this time, said Jorge Guerrero, a Port Royal Town Council member who also serves on the Shadow Moss homeowners association board of directors. Homeowner associations enforce rules for renting and living in a community.

Green, the Shadow Moss resident, said she bought a home in Shadow Moss 12 years ago because it was an up-and-coming neighborhood. It’s been a safe place to raise children. But as a mother, having a large number of men coming and going next door has been disconcerting. The incidents, especially the confrontation involving the sword, only raised her concern. Her daughter, Green said, is no longer able to play in the yard or retrieve items from the car without somebody being with her.

Neighbors are worried about retaliation, Green adds, “but it’s come to a head and we just have to take our chances.”

MercyMe Sober Living rents the house from Adam Catledge. Catledge did not return a phone call seeking comment. But in a post he made in a Shadow Moss Facebook group, Catledge says sober houses are protected by law and must meet all local zoning codes.

“It saddens me that people in this community act the way they do knowing that every person in this community has either had or has a family member or friend that has struggled with addiction of some sort,” Catledge wrote.

Ciccone, the resident who confronted the man with the sword, said the Shadow Moss homeowners association was a major draw to him in moving to the area because its rules would ensure a high standard of living. But today, he says he’s questioning living there at all as a result of the recent activities.

He wants to know whether the Shadow Moss homeowners association and the town are working together on the issue and who bears the responsibility for policing the sober house.

“The question I’m asking myself is,” Ciccone added, “‘how is this even remotely possible for this to even exist in my community?’”

Ciccone says he’s more frustrated with the owner of the house and how the home was allowed to be located in the neighborhood than he is with the man who tried to take his truck. “The home,” he says, “shouldn’t be in a residential community like that.”