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Drug, sex trafficking suspected at Red Roof

2 min read

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Charlotte motel has lost its franchise as federal agents look into allegations of sex trafficking and the sale of crack cocaine in its rooms.

Local media outlets report Red Roof Inn pulled its brand from the chain’s Charlotte Douglas International Airport site. In a nine-page affidavit filed in federal court, an FBI agent cites numerous instances of prostitution and drug trafficking at the hotel since 2012.

During the 2012 Democratic National Convention, agents conducted a prostitution sting at the hotel after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip that a man was prostituting women and girls there.

The affidavit said another man was sentenced in June 2014 after pleading guilty earlier that year in a case involving a woman prostituting herself at the hotel.

The affidavit also cites crack purchase at the hotel as recently as March.

In November 2013, CMPD officers in the Freedom Division nominated the hotel as a nuisance location because they said it was in the top 10 for repeat calls about prostitution, drugs and robberies.

Police had trouble getting the hotel’s owner, Chandresh Patel, to respond to their concerns as far back as 2013.

, FBI Special Agent Shawnda Drummond says in the affidavit.

Patel wasn’t immediately available for comment Thursday, and officials at Red Roof Inn headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, didn’t immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.

Patel’s lawyer, Hugo “Hap” Pearce, confirmed the hotel is no longer operated as a Red Roof Inn but that it is transitioning to another name. He declined to say whether Patel still owns the property.

The hotel has new management, and “new procedures have been implemented to promptly eliminate the conditions that may have led to any criminal activity in the past,” according to the statement.

“The hotel owners intend to continue to fully cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s office and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in order to prevent any further problems at the hotel.”

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