Hotel manager: Knights Inn used by swingers group; it’s not illegal

A Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judge heard from the manager of the Knights Inn about efforts he said he’s made to curb illegal activities at his Vandalia hotel.

On Aug. 4, the city of Vandalia filed a motion to close the Knights Inn, saying it was a public nuisance.

Hery Patel manages the Knights Inn and the hotel is a family-run business.

“Every morning I wake up and think ‘what can I do to make the hotel better?’” Patel told Judge Gregory Singer. “It is my livelihood and I live there.”

Patel testified he raised rates after the city filed the complaint in an effort to change the clientele. He raised the rates from $45 to $50 a night to $55 to $60 a night. Patel also testified since his family bought the hotel in 2017, they have put about $200,000 into remodeling or improving the rooms.

On Aug. 14, attorneys for the Knights Inn, David Pierce and Zachary White, filed a memorandum in opposition to Vandalia’s motion to close the hotel, saying the city did not provide formal written or verbal notice that the city considered the hotel a nuisance.

During the preliminary hearing on Monday, the defense stated the hotel is located in an area that often struggles with crime due to its proximity to Interstate 70 and Interstate 75. The defense attorneys also showed that the hotel has instituted a “do not rent” list, for “troublesome” or “unruly” guests.

Interim City Manager and Police Chief Kurt Althouse said the police department has responded to the hotel more than 250 times from the first of the year through July 27. The call log from that time period, obtained by the Dayton Daily News, shows calls for disorderly conduct, drug overdoses, auto theft, domestic incidents and other crime.

Althouse testified on Monday that the Vandalia Police Department often sends two officers when it responds to the Knights Inn because there is violence or a potential for violence. This makes the property a drain on police resources.

Althouse testified his officers are responding to the Knights Inn more than once a day some days. A Vandalia police officer testified that he personally responded to someone who had overdosed on a couch in the lobby of the Knights Inn.

Althouse said Patel has not personally reached out to the police department for help. Patel said the police have not offered resources to help him clean up the hotel. Patel did not deny there were a lot of calls for service to his hotel and said that he has made some calls himself.

Althouse said he has personally observed groups of people loitering in the hotel parking lot and “scantily clad” people in the hallways of the hotel.

Attorneys representing the city of Vandalia also called several other law enforcement officers, including one undercover Dayton police detective who said he participated in an undercover investigation at the hotel. The undercover officer was there because he had been tipped off that there might be some prostitution or underage girls for hire. He saw what he described as a “swingers club,” and a “disgusting” scene, but said he did not personally observe any underage people engaging in sex acts.

Vandalia Police Sgt. Gary Lawson testified that he has seen the “swingers club” parties. Lawson also testified that as recently as a few weeks ago, he responded to the Knights Inn and saw a used condom and a bloody tooth in the hallway of the hotel.

Patel said during testimony there is a swingers group that has used the hotel’s conference room and rented rooms on the second floor of the hotel. He said he has even let the swingers group use a storage unit on the property.

“They’re not doing anything illegal,” Patel said.

The group has not been back in the last year, he said.

Lawson said until about a year ago Patel was cooperative when the police department would ask for a guest list to check to see if anyone staying at the hotel had an active warrant. Lawson said police do this at other hotels in the area.

Patel testified that about a year ago a uniformed police officer from a different jurisdiction asked hotel management for a guest list, which they provided, and used it to find a woman and sexually assault her. She sued the hotel for giving out the guest list and Patel said this is why he and his staff are no longer giving out the hotel guest list.

The man who assaulted the woman was former Phillipsburg Police Office Justin Sanderson. Her case against the hotel was settled in Dec. 2019, according to court records. Sanderson was convicted of raping four women in 2018 and sentenced to 43 years in prison.

The defense also called a Montgomery County Public Health employee who said the Patel family has been cooperative when she inspects the property.

The prosecution and defense attorneys have until Friday to write a written summary and Judge Singer will make a ruling after reading those documents.

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