{"id":366623,"date":"2026-07-09T09:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/366623\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T09:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:52:17","slug":"fort-worth-asks-judge-to-declare-east-lancaster-motel-a-nuisance-due-to-chronic-criminal-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/366623\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth asks judge to declare East Lancaster motel a nuisance due to \u2018chronic criminal activity\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fort Worth sued the owner of an East Lancaster motel Tuesday for allegedly failing to control rampant prostitution, drug dealing and violence on the property.<\/p>\n

The city is asking the judge to label Central Motel a common nuisance, shut it down for a year, appoint a receiver and order the owner to take measures to reduce crime.<\/p>\n

“Chronic criminal activity that threatens our neighborhoods will not be ignored,” City Manager Jay Chapa said in a press release<\/a>. “Property owners have a responsibility to operate their properties in a manner that does not allow persistent criminal activity. The City will use every lawful tool available to protect our residents, support our police officers and hold property owners accountable.”<\/p>\n

The property owner, Haribhai Narsionhdas Patel, did not respond to text messages or calls from KERA. An attorney is not yet listed for Patel either.<\/p>\n

Javier Gomez, a mechanic at an auto shop across the street from the motel, told KERA he had to chase away a person who punched and demanded money from his coworker a few years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I have cameras, I have an alarm,\u201d Gomez said, adding that people have broken in through the windows.<\/p>\n

Two employees at a neighboring business told KERA they were afraid to talk publicly about the property.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The city is suing under Chapter 125 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which lets cities seek court intervention when certain criminal activity frequently occurs at a property and the owner doesn\u2019t take reasonable steps to reduce it.<\/p>\n

The motel will stay open while the case proceeds through the courts.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is a part of the \u201cNuisance Enforcement Task Force\u201d initiative Fort Worth launched in December.<\/p>\n

The city this year spent<\/a> more than $150,000 to reduce crime in the East Lancaster corridor, where the motel is located. Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia told city council members in March the corridor is a top 10 hotspot for crime.<\/p>\n

The motel has two open cases<\/a> with the city\u2019s Code Compliance Department for \u201cproperty maintenance\u201d and \u201csubstandard building.\u201d<\/p>\n

A May city health inspection<\/a> noted \u201cserious health violations\u201d at the property, including unsanitary sheets, broken toilets and urine odor. At least two rooms were closed until certain repairs were made.<\/p>\n

Dallas has also taken action against nuisance properties. The city in June demolished a motel<\/a> authorities said was notorious for drug trafficking, prostitution and violent crime on Harry Hines Boulevard.<\/p>\n

Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at\u00a0dduke@kera.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a\u00a0tax-deductible gift today<\/a>. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Worth sued the owner of an East Lancaster motel Tuesday for allegedly failing to control rampant prostitution,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-366623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}