White River Junction
The sternly worded letter from Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill said owners Harish Patel, Hatish Patel and Mayurkumar Patel could face up to 20 years in prison, or $250,000 in fines under Vermont criminal statutes, for owning or renting properties used for the use or sale of controlled substances.
The owners’ company, Jalaram Hospitality LLC, which acquired the property in 2005, could also be subject to civil penalties for “maintaining a common nuisance in the form of the Shady Lawn Motel,” according to Cahill.
Cahill said in an email on Thursday that he and town officials are scheduled to meet with the owners next week.
“At this point, we are seeking to engage constructively with the owners of the Shady Lawn Motel to put in place several common sense safety measures so that those who have the misfortune of residing at the Shady Lawn will feel and in fact be as safe as those residing in other forms of housing that serve vulnerable populations,” Cahill wrote.
The motel was involved in 131 police calls last year — much more than other comparable residential motels, according to Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten.
Young families living at the motel who are striving to get ahead in life are thwarted by the constant stream of crime happening outside their doors, Kasten said on Thursday.
“It’s very difficult because not everybody that’s there partakes in misconduct, and it makes it that much more difficult for the people that are trying to get ahead, trying to move forward,” Kasten said. He said it’s also a problem for other homes in the neighborhood.
Kalpesh Patel, who has lived at and managed the motel for the past two years, said on Thursday that he is aware of the problem and trying to implement corrective measures.
“We watch to see who’s doing bad, but we don’t know who’s doing it,” Patel said. “We don’t always recognize the bad guys. It’s a problem.”
Patel said he has plans to upgrade the motel’s security cameras, but that it was unlikely to solve the problem.
“I need some advice from the police,” he said.
The letter from Cahill included a packet of police reports that collectively paint a picture of a motel in which criminals feel emboldened to engage in drug deals, and to resolve their disputes with violence.
Crime data show that police have been called to the motel more than 100 times each year for at least the past four years, he wrote.
“Children who are unlucky enough to call the Shady Lawn Motel home are faced with unsafe and unsanitary conditions,” according to the letter.
A packet of police reports sent as supplemental information to the letter show domestic abuse cases, including one in March 2016 during which an argument between a man and woman over his phone resulted in him throwing a remote control at her, grabbing her around the neck and pinning her down while she screamed for help. In another case, a woman allegedly punched a man in the head during a dispute about toilet paper. There also are various allegations and arrests related to the use and sale of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs. In January of this year, police traced the suspects in two armed robberies to their Shady Lawn motel rooms.
Some reports described repeated drug sales that were conducted, in part, through the rear windows of the rooms, so as to avoid detection from surveillance cameras.
At times, the manager and owners, whose roles as rent collector and room maintenance lend themselves to conflict with the tenants, have been party to the disputes. In at least one case, police told staff that an evicted tenant couldn’t be cited for trespassing because “many other tenants” invited him to stay as their guest.
The packet of police reports included one from April in which Kalpesh Patel himself was arrested. In that incident, witnesses reported that, after a heated argument with a tenant, a “visually intoxicated” Patel drove away from the hotel. And in May 2016, Mayurkumar Patel called police to file a report when his 1999 Nissan Maxima was egged “multiple times” while parked at the motel.
While the Shady Lawn has drawn unflattering attention from law enforcement, it has also been recognized by others for playing a helpful role in providing low-cost housing for people who struggle to find shelter.
Sara Kobylenski, executive director of the Upper Valley Haven, a homeless shelter which often provides services to some of the motel’s occupants, has said that, for all its ills, the Shady Lawn “fills a vacuum.”
Discussions with residents showed a mixture of admiration for Kalpesh Patel’s efforts to improve the Shady Lawn, and frustration that the circumstances render those efforts ineffective.
“Drugs. One word. Five letters. That’s what’s going on here,” said Pete Guilbault, 72, who has been living at Shady Lawn for four years. Guilbault gave Kalpesh high marks for working hard to make Shady Lawn a better place.
“He’s been trying, since he took over the place, to clean it all out,” Guilbault said.
Other residents said they generally felt personally safe, but recognized that they were living side-by-side with persistent amounts of criminal activity.
“I stay to myself. I make sure my door is locked,” said Valerie Davis, 55, who has been living at Shady Lawn for five years.
She said she sometimes smells marijuana, and knows other residents who have had their property stolen.
“I feel sorry for the kids stuck here,” said Davis, who worked recently at Shyrl’s Diner, but had to quit when she broke her arm.
Debi Wesoly, 62, is temporarily homeless, and though she spends a lot of time at the Shady Lawn as the guest of a renter, she said it’s difficult to see the evidence of the criminal activity.
“They do it behind closed doors,” making enforcement difficult, she said.
Wesoly suggested that the owners should use background checks to weed out residents with a criminal history, but Patel said it was impractical to do so, when the majority of renters are only staying short-term.
In another room at the hotel, Destiny Powell, 21, and her boyfriend Tyler Tabor, 18, share a room with their friend, Brandon DeGraan, 19.
They, too, were supportive of the current management.
“It’s unfair they’re cracking down on him when he’s working so hard,” DeGraan said.
He also said that background checks would be problematic, because the Shady Lawn currently serves a vital function as a place where someone with a criminal background can get shelter, and try to build a better life.
“There are felons in here that are OK,” DeGraan said. “It really comes down to a judgment of character. It’s all a debate of who should stay here and who should go, and in the end, it will sink the motel.”
Kasten said that, when officials meet with the owners next week, it will be an opportunity for them to be a part of a solution that allows both the motel, and its law-abiding tenants, to move forward.
“I think it’s great that we’re all going to sit down and have that discussion,” he said.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.