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Motel is punished for crimeBy JON WILSON, Times Staff Writer© St. Petersburg Times published December 18, 2002 ST. PETERSBURG -- The Empress Motel doesn't sit on a gritty strip with villains on every corner. It sits on a tree-lined street bordering the genteel Crescent Lake neighborhood. But records show that the placid front concealed a shocking parade of vice that has engaged police for the past several months. Since July, officers have made about a dozen arrests stemming from activity at the Empress, 1503 Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) St. N. "We used to never go there," said Sgt. Tim Montanari, who supervises community police officers north of Central Avenue. Lately, prostitution and drug dealing have taken place at the motel, police say. A sample of the activity, according to police testimony at a Nuisance Abatement Board hearing: Rooms rented for $20 an hour. Prostitutes who charged $45 for sex. A man carrying a vial with 65 pieces of crack cocaine and $2,000 in currency. Another man, fleeing police, who dropped cocaine into the swimming pool before trying to grab an officer's gun. "The last three or four months, it's gotten out of hand," said Sherman Smith, the Police Department's lawyer. Last week, the board voted to close 23 rooms at the Empress for six months, fine owner Manji N. Jethwa $2,500 and assess Jethwa $3,376.93 in investigative costs and lawyer fees. "I think it sends a message," said Clifford Holensworth, the Crescent Lake Neighborhood Association president. He said the neighborhood is not happy with several other motels operating on Fourth Street N. The Empress "was such a quiet thing. People didn't know it was going on. It was underneath the radar," Holensworth said. One of those arrested was Monterio Sampson, charged with crack possession. He posted $7,500 bail, then failed to appear at a Nov. 22 hearing. In 1994, Sampson was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and several other charges in the death of a 48-year-old nurse whose car Sampson hit with the vehicle he was driving. He was released from prison December 2000, records show. Empress managers knew illegal activity was going on, detectives testified during the nuisance abatement hearing. In October, Jethwa, 51, was arrested and charged with making money from prostitution and operating a public nuisance. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
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