Crime-ridden motel ordered to close by Cumberland County Sheriff's Office
A Fayetteville motel that has long seen issues with crime was served an abatement and injunction order on Monday.
According to the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, the Coliseum Inn at 2507 Gillespie St. was ordered to cease operations and close immediately for staff and guests.
In June 2022, Sheriff Ennis Wright held a community watch meeting after residents complained repeatedly about the Coliseum Inn and two other motels in the area.
"This is the worst of the three," Wright said about Coliseum Inn in 2022. "This is the one that has over 200 calls."
Since 2019, data from the sheriff's office showed some of the most serious offenses at the motels are 20 homicides, 39 sex offenses, 28 overdoses and 11 cases of human trafficking.
In 2022, Wright said there have been 246 reported crimes at Coliseum Inn since 2019.
A statement issued Monday by the sheriff's office read deputies have "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."
The closing of the inn will allow law enforcement to focus their attention elsewhere, the statement went on to say.
WRAL News in 2022 spoke to Sanat Naik, the owner of Coliseum Inn, who agreed there's a problem and one he doesn't condone.
Naik said he needs help to get rid of the handful of troublemakers causing problems.
"It's been a losing battle with mostly homeless, and then, of course, there's drug activity or whatever they're doing. I mean, this is just all local business," said Naik.
"The residents, they have a right to be upset because you have prostitution walking up and down the street [and] walking through their neighborhoods," said Wright.
Wright said his deputies face a vicious cycle of repeat offenders.
"We pick them up, take them down and before you know it, before the deputy finishes the paperwork, that person's back out here," he said.
