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The L.A. City Attorney's office filed a lawsuit today against the owners of a Sylmar Motel 6 that alleges the owners' negligence has allowed the motel to become a hotbed of narcotics, gang, and prostitution and human trafficking activity. The lawsuit—which names the motel's owner, G6 Hospitality Property LLC, as a defendant—alleges that the motel has become the de facto home base for a number of known gang members, who apparently conduct their dealings in plain site at the property.
"On any given day, the Motel can be described as a gang hang out, a narcotics sales location, and a veritable prostitution mill with a revolving door of pimps, johns, and traffickers conducting their business day in and day out, unhindered in the least by the Motel's staff and management, or the Motel's policies and practices," said the complaint filed on Monday.
The City Attorney's office reports that, since 2013, the motel has been the site of 10 arrests for prostitution, 22 drug-related arrests, as well as 34 arrests for battery, burglary and possession of a firearm, according to City News Service. In the past two weeks, police have arrested suspects from two separate robbery incidents there as well. In a room allegedly used for prostitution, police investigators found 71 used condoms and wrappers. Stolen vehicles and firearms have also been regularly found at the property.
Court documents reflect that the LAPD has been investigating the property for several years. In one undercover investigation, an LAPD officer posing as a pimp easily rented a room from the motel staff as he pointed at another undercover LAPD officer, posing as a sex-worker, and said "I want to put this ho[e] to work."
In another investigation, a man approached three undercover LAPD officers relaxing by the motel's pool and proposed they come work for him as prostitutes. The man continued, saying that if he learned they were undercover police officers, he would kill them and their families.
Part of the problem, too, is the fact that motel management is rarely on site. In the interest of cost-cutting, G6 Hospitality Property LLC has implemented a "mobile enabled" system that allows revenue the management team and franchise partners to do their jobs entirely off site. The lawsuit seeks to reverse this, and to require a G6 Hospitality executive officers or director to be at the troubled motel five days a week. Also required would be proactive property security, and notices that explicitly forbid criminal activity on the premises.
