Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Operation Heartbreak Hotel Update: Two Memphis Motels Declared Public Nuisances
MEMPHIS, TN – Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced Thursday that two motels closed by the D.A.’s Office, the Memphis Police Department and the West Tennessee Violent Crime and Drug Task Force in February have been declared public nuisances and a judge has awarded all personal property to the state to be sold at auction.
The owners of The Bellevue Inn, located at 1250 South Bellevue and The Lamplighter Motor Inn, located at 667 South Bellevue, appeared in Environmental Court on Thursday for trials on the public nuisance actions filed by the D.A.’s Office following “Operation Heartbreak Hotel.”
The owners of The Bellevue Inn admitted their business was a public nuisance and the matter did not go to trial. The owners of The Lamplighter Motor Inn, however, contested the nuisance action and a trial was held before Judge Larry Potter. After testimony from several witnesses, Judge Potter found the business to be a public nuisance.
The state will be awarded all the furniture and other personal property inside the motels. The D.A.’s Office plans to sell the property at auction in the coming weeks.
“We are obviously very pleased with the outcome of these cases. The neighborhoods in which these motels are located will be better off. I hope we have sent a clear signal that there is a price to pay for operating a public nuisance in this community,” said District Attorney Gibbons.
The properties will remain closed under the temporary injunctions issued in February pending further orders from the court. The Bellevue Inn and the Lamplighter Motor Inn still face various pending environmental code violations, however. They may reopen at some point in the future, but the owners and management will be under strict conditions of a court order to abate a nuisance, and have to refurbish the properties due to the forfeiture of all the personal property. |
Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 (Archive on Thursday, April 10, 2008)
Posted by jdonnals Contributed by jdonnals
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