Carrollton police arrested two men on drug charges Tuesday, including one who tried to flee into a nearby home on Adamson Avenue that was inhabited by a mother and her six young children.

Police said officers recovered $6 ,000 worth of marijuana and cash from inside a duplex at 218A Bennett Circle.

Carrollton police Capt. Chris Dobbs said the arrests of John A. Taylor, 37, who lived at the duplex, and Donavon Smith, 23, both from Carrollton, came after officers searched the duplex following a year-long investigation into suspected drug sales at the home.

As officers entered the duplex, police investigator Jay Shepard said Smith and an unidentified man, who was not apprehended, ran out of the duplex before Smith allegedly fled inside a house on Adamson Avenue in an attempt to lose the officers who were trailing him, according to police reports.

Inside the Adamson Avenue home, six children under the age of 10 - including a young child asleep in a bedroom - quickly were picked up and rushed outside by the frightened woman, who told police about the intruder inside.

Police said Smith had taken a jacket hanging inside the woman’s closet, in what officers believe was an attempt to conceal his identity. In the end, after police announced they were ready to send a search dog into the house, the unarmed man voluntarily came outside and surrendered.

Smith was taken into custody and charged with burglary, theft by taking and obstruction, according to police.

While officers were arresting Smith, Shepard said police inside the duplex on Bennett Circle found a 5-pound block of marijuana in a rear bedroom stored in a bookbag concealed in an empty PlayStation 2 video-console box.

Taylor was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession with intent to distribute marijuana within 1,000 feet of a public housing complex.

The duplex was packed with people when officers arrived, including a 13-year-old boy and six adults, and two pit bulldogs that were restrained by the residents, according to Dobbs.

Officers involved in the investigation came from the city’s Drug Suppression Unit and also included Carroll County sheriff’s deputies.

More charges are pending on additional suspects.

“We’ve been investigating suspected drug sales from this residence for a year from information we’ve received by concerned citizens,” Shepard said. “We believe drugs were being sold directly from that location, and are vigilant in all efforts to stop drugs being sold illegally in our city.”