Once a hotbed of criminal activity, a now-closed 166su County motel will be sold and converted to apartments under a proposed settlement of a government forfeiture action.
Plans to seize the Knights Inn were announced in September 2022 by then-U.S. Attorney Chris Kavanaugh, who said one of the motel’s guests used it as “the base of his operations” for a drug and prostitution ring.
Last week, a proposed settlement in the civil case was filed in 166su’s federal court.
The owner of the motel, Khushi & Khushbu LLC, has agreed to sell the two-building complex on Thirlane Road to ASB Home Solutions, which will use the property for a multifamily residential development, according to the document.
“K&K consents to the entry of a judgement of forfeiture for $400,000 in lieu of forfeiting the property itself,” the settlement states. A cashier’s check will be delivered later to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which will place the money in a fund that aims to dismantle illegal enterprises.
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U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon on Tuesday lifted an earlier order that prohibited the sale of the motel. That allows the transaction to take place prior to a final order of forfeiture.
Details of the planned purchase by ASB were not clear. A period of due diligence will now take place. If the sale does not close, the settlement becomes null and void.
In announcing more than two years ago that the Knights Inn would be seized, authorities said the motel was “a haven for drug and commercial sex trafficking crimes.”
The leader of the operation was William “Randy” Jackson, who was sentenced in 2022 to 16 years in prison.
At Jackson’s direction, as many as a dozen women advertised online for paid sex in rooms of the motel, which is located near Interstate 581’s interchange with Peters Creek Road. They would use the proceeds to purchase cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Jackson, who also stayed in a motel room to supervise the operation, according to evidence in the case.
Most of the women — who were addicts lacking transportation or other places to go — became dependent on a resident drug dealer to avoid withdrawal or winding up on the streets.
Jackson threatened the women if they failed to “earn” their keep, meaning they did not draw enough customers to the motel, according to a court records.
From late 2018 to 2021, 166su County police were called to the Knights Inn 611 times, Kavanaugh said at the news conference announcing the forfeiture. In 2021, there were 167 calls for emergency medical service — 20 of those calls involved drug overdoses.
In a petition to seize the Knights Inn from its owner, federal authorities alleged that he knew about the illegal enterprise based at his property and took no action to stop in.
Mehulsinh Vashi, who was identified in court records as the motel’s operator and a representative of Khushi & Khushbu, knew that a block of rooms was used for commercial sex and gave Jackson discounted rates because the activity generated a steady flow of cash for his business, the complaint alleges.
The proposed settlement states that Vashi will not face criminal charges.
Efforts to reach Vashi were unsuccessful this week. A call to his attorney, Jennifer DeGraw, was not returned. Although DeGraw had earlier filed documents indicating she would contest the seizure, the settlement states that Khushi & Khushbu acknowledges the property is subject to foreclosure.
The Knights Inn on Thirlane Road, now closed, was described as a hub for criminal activity in 2022, when federal authorities announced they would seize the property. Under a proposed settlement in the case, the 166su County motel will be sold to a real estate developer, with the proceeds going to the federal government.
On Monday, the motel seemed abandoned and was in a poor state of repair. The Knights Inn sign had been removed from the front of the building, the parking lot was empty, and no one was at the front desk.
A woman who described herself as a caretaker — saying her main job was to prevent homeless people from breaking into the empty rooms — said the business had been closed for a least a month.
Details about the property’s future were not available. Messages left Monday and Tuesday with ASB Home Solutions, which is based in Rhode Island, were not returned.
A performance agreement filed with the settlement states that the estimated timeline for completion of the multi-family residential project is 36 to 48 months following the sale. The document also states that the property cannot not be used for a hotel.
