MEMPHIS, TN – Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced Wednesday that two additional 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 Royal Inn & Suites, located at 3685 American Way; and Garden Inn & Suites, located at 3419 American Way, conceded to the Environmental Court that their businesses were public nuisances and the cases did not go to trial.
The two motels, along with The Bellevue Inn, located at 1250 South Bellevue and The Lamplighter Motor Inn, located at 667 South Bellevue, were closed following the “Operation Heartbreak Hotel” investigation. Those motels were declared public nuisances by the court on April 3.
The state will be awarded all the furniture and other personal property inside Royal Inns & Suites and Garden Inns & Suites. The D.A.’s Office expects an auction to be held at the properties in the coming weeks.
“Businesses that operate as public nuisances will not be tolerated in this community. We will continue to work with law enforcement and use the Tennessee nuisance law to stop drug trafficking, prostitution and other crimes from plaguing our neighborhoods,” said District Attorney Gibbons.
The properties will remain closed under the temporary injunctions issued in February pending further orders from the court. Royal Inns & Suites and Garden Inns & Suites still face various pending environmental code violations, as do The Lamplighter Motor Inn and The Bellevue Inn. The motels 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. |