A promotional video for the sale of 2220 Q Street NW.

/ Screenshot via Youtube.

In the latest turn of events for a Dupont mansion with a reputation for wild ragers, law enforcement officials contend that the Q Street property has been operating as a marijuana pop up for at least a year.

A police raid in late September uncovered almost 25 pounds of a “green, leafy substance” that tested positive for THC, nearly $16,500 in cash, more than 500 THC edibles, and 469 THC-infused electronic smoking devices, according to court documents. Law enforcement also discovered what court documents describe as menus and ledgers that outlined dates and sale amounts for transactions. Two people at the home were arrested during the raid.

Police have been investigating the Q Street home for more than a year, according to court documents cited by the Washington Post. Law enforcement found advertisements for Dupont Circle gatherings and private parties on Instagram accounts like @honestherbsdc. That account’s posts are laden with marijuana symbols like leaves and start times of 4:20 p.m., all requesting that participants send a direct message or text a phone number for details. After a prolonged back-and-forth, per court documents, customers would be directed to a back entrance for 2220 Q Street NW, where they could allegedly purchase marijuana products.

FOX 5 was the first to report about the police raid.

While marijuana possession is legal in D.C. up to 2 ounces, it still remains illegal to sell the drug in the District. Some people have seized upon the so-called “gifting” loophole—because people can give away marijuana, businesses operating in the grey economy sell products like t-shirts or artwork and then give away cannabis. D.C. police have taken note of marijuana pop-ups, in which vendors gather in one place to provide customers with opportunities to acquire cannabis, and have conducted a series of raids across the city.

The 5,200-square-foot home in Dupont has also been at the center of other legal dramas. Back in 2015, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine sued property owner Douglas Jeffries for operating an “unlicensed residential housing business, public hall, boarding house, bed and breakfast, and general business.” Multiple government offices received fielded complaints about the home being used as a “party venue,” and D.C. police received more than 100 calls between April 2014 and April 2015 about loud and excessive noise, per the suit.

At that time, the home was being advertised as the “Celebrity House Hunter Mansion” on Airbnb, with nightly rates of approximately $1,500. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Ja Rule put on a surprise show at the Dupont home for 400 people as a promotion for Magnises, a company founded by Billy McFarland, better known as the co-founder of the disastrous Fyre Festival. The police showed up to the show twice, according to Washingtonian.

A Superior Court order in May of that year ordered Jeffries to cease operating the property as an unlicensed business, an agreement Racine said would “bring an end to the dangerous, illegal, and troublesome use of this property to host large and noisy events.”

However, the home still appears on Airbnb as of press time. Now with a cost of $900 per night, the house is called “Celebrity Mansion NOT FOR EVENTS.” It has 4.89 stars, but the three most recent reviews, beginning in July of 2019, all say that the host canceled the reservation approximately two weeks before the guest was slated to arrive.

In August 2016, Jeffries put the house on the market for $4.5 million—it includes a heated rooftop pool, multiple koi ponds, a 25-foot indoor waterfall, and an elevator. But that price appears to have dropped dramatically. An expired listing that remains on Compass has a price of $3,499,999. Property records indicate that the home went into foreclosure this July.

Jeffries’ legal woes this year predate the foreclosure, however. Court records dated at the end of May state that officers discovered Jeffries at the Churchill Hotel, near Embassy Row, with almost 2 pounds of marijuana, dozens of various kinds of marijuana edibles, more than 150 THC vape cartridges, and other weed paraphernalia, along with $6,400 in cash. “Based on the amount of marijuana, the packaging, amount of money … it was determined that [Jeffries] had possession with intent to distribute as opposed to mere possession,” the court documents states.

Jeffries, who is also the founder of Results Gym and yoga studio Stroga, was not at the Dupont home during the raid on September 25, per the police report. The two men who were present at the time, John Scripps Sweeney and Nabil Yazbeck, were both arrested and charged with unlawful possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Their next hearings are slated for October 15.

The warrant notes that the mansion abuts a church that has a daycare. According to FOX 5, some people would show up at the church in pursuit of drugs.

Reporting contributed by Martin Austermuhle.