Coliseum Inn on Gillespie Street shutdown by Cumberland County judge

F.T. Norton, The Fayetteville Observer
·5 min read

A Gillespie Street motel, long considered a nuisance by law enforcement, was deemed such by the courts last week, resulting in a Cumberland County judge ordering its closure and sale.

"Today the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office served the Coliseum Inn an Abatement and Injunction Order. The Coliseum Inn was ordered to cease operations of the property for public lodging or public accommodations," the Sheriff's Office announced Monday.

"The Sheriff's Office has responded to the Coliseum Inn in abundance over the last few years for 911 calls for service ranging from homicides, overdoses, shootings, domestics, thefts, etc. With this property ordered to not be in operation, the Sheriff's Office can divert law enforcement services to other areas and citizens in the county for assistance."

Crime scene tape is seen outside the Coliseum Inn on Gillespie Street on April 19, 2021, after a woman was shot there. She died days later. The motel has been considered a nuisance by the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office for at least a decade. Last week, a judge shut it down for good.
Crime scene tape is seen outside the Coliseum Inn on Gillespie Street on April 19, 2021, after a woman was shot there. She died days later. The motel has been considered a nuisance by the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office for at least a decade. Last week, a judge shut it down for good.

Court order shuts it down

In a ruling dated June 2, Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons found that the motel at 2507 Gillespie St. "has been established, continued, maintained, used, owned, operated, leased, or rented" as a place for the illegal use and sales of controlled substances; for the purposes of lewdness, gambling, the illegal use and sale of alcohol; for the use of promoting prostitution and human trafficking, homicides, shootings, shots fired calls, stabbings, violent assaults, assaults on law enforcement, fights, affrays, loud, abusive, and profane language, and "impaired and disruptive behavior"

Ammons' order required that the property be vacated of tenants by June 10, and the owners, Raj Laxmi Hospitality Inc. — which stipulated to the nuisance allegations, according to the consent judgment — sell the motel "in an arms-length, good-faith, non-collusive, non-related transaction)n to a buyer who is and shall be acceptable to the Sheriff of Cumberland County."

Related: Sheriff: Woman in Cumberland County motel shooting taken off life support

The defendants named in the order are Raj Laxmi Hospitality LLC, and the motel's previous owner, Savita of Fayetteville Inc., along with company owners, agents and managers from both corporations: Kumudchandra Shah, Sonar Shah, Chaitali N. Sheth, Sanath-ar D. Naik, Sanathlmar D. Naik. Jayesh Patel and Niruv Sheth.

County property records show that Raj Laxmi Hospitality LLC purchased the property in 2022 from Savita of Fayetteville Inc. The court's ruling states that Raj Laxmi Hospitality owner Kumudchandra Shah managed the daily operation of the Coliseum Inn as the general manager for more than four years before purchasing it Dec. 15, 2022.

The sale came about a month after a woman, identified in court records as Jane Doe, filed a federal lawsuit against Coliseum Inn, and other area motels — Red Roof Inn, Cardinal Inn & Suites, Crown Inn and Airport Inn Budget Motel — for allegedly ignoring "the open and obvious presence of sex trafficking on their properties, enjoying the profit from rooms rented for this explicit and apparent purpose."

The plaintiff alleged she was sex trafficked in 2019 and the traffickers "forced her onto Defendants’ properties where she was repeatedly raped and forced to perform commercial sex acts with 'buyers' under threats of death, physical violence, and psychological abuse...

"Doe brings this lawsuit in an attempt to hold the Defendants accountable for facilitating and enabling her trafficking, and receiving profit from it."

The case entered into mediation in December and the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed it without prejudice in February.

Violent crime a common occurrence

For years, the Coliseum Inn has been the scene of violent crimes and death, officials said.

In its complaint, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office detailed some of the calls deputies responded to in the past three years at the motel.

"There has been a continuing pattern and specific events, transactions, and occurrences showing the loathsome, despicable, dangerous and unlawful activity on the Property," the complaint said.

"Sheriff's deputies have been needed and they have responded to thousands of calls at the Property since the beginning of 2015, and the pattern has continued, and deputies have been needed and they have responded to thousands of calls at the Property during the three years next preceding the filing of this complaint, which have been made necessary by the continuing trespass, that is, by the continuing nuisance activity."

Related: Fayetteville man arrested in fatal April shooting at Cumberland County motel

The following are some of the occasions noted in the complaint:

— April 6, 2023: Investigators executed a drug-related search warrant at the motel, seizing marijuana, fentanyl and weapons.— Aug. 24, 2022: Drug overdose— May 12, 2022: Deceased person in a room littered with drug paraphernalia.— May 2, 2002: Death investigation with syringes in the room.— March 26, 2022: Death investigation with drugs and paraphernalia in the room— Sept. 22, 2022: Solicitation of prostitution arrest— Sept 4, 2022: Woman assaulted— Aug. 28, 2022: Innocent bystander was shot in her room after someone outside got into a dispute and opened fire.— June 20, 2022: A woman reported a gun was pointed at her.— June 14, 2022: Man reported he was robbed in a room at gunpoint.— June 6, 2022: Man shot multiple times during an altercation— May 1, 2022: Law enforcement officer "violently assaulted" by a patron of property.— April 24, 2022: Man shot and killed.— April 19, 2021: Woman is shot and later dies.

Other instances are the arrest of a murder suspect in January 2020 and a person shot in January 2018.

The complaint notes that in 2013 and in 2016 Sheriff Earl Butler notified the operators and owners of the Coliseum Inn to abate the nuisance. "The owners and managers feigned a willingness to work with law enforcement to stop the nuisance activity, but soon afterward such activity resumed," the complaint said.

In 2018, Sheriff Ennis Wright again notified the operators and owners of the Coliseum Inn of the issue, and again nothing was done, the complaint said.

"The owners and managers asserted a feigned willingness to work with law enforcement to stop the nuisance activity described in the complaint but failed to do so, and the nuisance activity continued, and the Sheriff's investigation continued and that of the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Nuisance Abatement Unit commenced and culminated with the filing of this complaint," the complaint said.

In its news release Monday, the Sheriff's Office said nuisance and abatement signs have been posted at the motel.

"Anyone who is caught on the property will be deemed to be trespassing and will be charged accordingly," the release said.

F.T. Norton can be reached at fnorton@fayobserver.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Coliseum Inn on Gillespie Street shut down by court order