STROUD TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A former drug house was sold Tuesday during a public real estate auction near Stroudsburg.
The sale was put on by the Monroe County Drug Task Force, the first of its kind for the department.
A man from New Jersey bought the house in Stroud Township for $67,000. All that money will go right back to the drug task force.
After a few minutes of back and forth, Manuel Payguay from New Jersey bid the highest on the house in Stroud Township.
It used to be a marijuana grow house before it was taken over by the Monroe County district attorney's office back in February of 2017.
The county drug task force put it up for sale during its first public real estate auction.
"I want to try and fix it, and I want to see if my family wants to move here or maybe, I am not sure yet," Payguay said.
The house needs lots of repairs and a good cleaning.
About a dozen people came to the auction hoping to take over the four-acre piece of land.
Phillip Bruot from Marshalls Creek says the final price was $2,000 more than he was willing to pay.
"It has potential. I didn't like the floor plan to begin with, and I had set up a maximum that we wouldn't exceed. $65,000 was the maximum, and that's the way it goes," Bruot said.
County detectives want this real estate auction to be an example to anyone who thinks they are going to buy or sell drugs from their house.
"We don't want people coming into Monroe County to buy houses and turn them into a grow operation because this is what is going to happen. We are going to sell it at public auction," said Monroe County Det. Kim Lippincott.
All $67,000 from the sale will go back to help fund the Monroe County Drug Task Force.
"All the proceeds from the auction will pay officers' overtime, any training that we need, or equipment to help keep us one step ahead of the next criminal," Det. Lippincott explained.
The new homeowner has until next month to pay the county in full for the house.