COLUMBUS, Ohio – A hotel on the north side, described as notorious as a haven for prostitutes and drug dealers, will be shut down for the next year while its owners clean up their crime-ridden establishment.
An environmental court judge ruled yesterday that the Columbus Inn and Suites, located near the I-71 and state Route 161 interchange, is a public nuisance, citing nearly 500 police calls to the hotel for drugs and prostitution over the past year.
Judge Teresa Liston’s ruling found that Mohammad and Umtal Ashraf — husband and wife owners of the hotel — were told repeatedly about the problems and complaints and did “absolutely nothing” to take care of them.
In order to have the hotel closed, City Attorney Richard Pfeiffer, Jr’s., office had to prove the Ashrafs “knew of, participated in, or acquiesced to the activity which constituted the nuisance,” Pfeiffer said.
The State Fire Marshall found multiple fire code violations during at least 50 visits between 2011 and 2013. Police were called 497 times to the hotel between Jan. 1, 2012 and March 19, 2013 for prostitution, drug dealing and other criminal activity, he said.
Pfeiffer says undercover police officers arrested several people who were later convicted on prostitution-related charges and offenses and also made several undercover purchases of heroin and crack cocaine.