Police shut down Northland motel after finding unsafe conditions

Authorities spent Wednesday removing residents, their pets and belongings from a Northland motel after inspectors found drugs, feces, mice infestation and other unsanitary conditions, police said.

Kansas City police, animal control officers, Health Department workers, fire inspectors and codes enforcement officials converged Wednesday on the Extended Stay Inn at Interstate 35 and Antioch Road to close the facility. The motel had been a problem spot for years, they said.

Sgt. Dan Graves said authorities inspected each room. Inspectors were there about a month ago and cited the hotel owner for numerous violations.

“The crime rate is high and centralized around this area,” Graves said. “We have had a lot of narcotic complaints. Once we started putting everything together, we definitely saw some safety concerns for anyone who stayed here.”

On Wednesday, authorities returned to the hotel for a follow-up inspection. Police found drugs and drug paraphernalia in several rooms and a stolen car in the parking lot. Several people were arrested on a variety of offenses, Graves said.

The city’s Health Department declared the hotel unfit to live in and gave residents 24 hours to gather their belongings and vacate the apartments, Graves said. Social service agencies were called to assist the residents. Some were seeking a refund of rent they had paid to the hotel.

“The true victims,” Graves said, “are the people who were staying here.”

In the past year, Graves said, police had answered more than 100 calls to the motel. He said a rape and a street robbery had occurred there.

Graves said about 50 of the 200 rooms were occupied and there were two to five people in each room. Inspectors found dogs, cats and animals being kept by residents. They also found faulty wiring, smoke detectors that did not work, feces, roaches, rat infestation and debris cluttering many of the rooms, he said.

A 21-year-old resident said she and her family had lived at the hotel for two years and paid about $203 a week for rent.

Authorities on Wednesday took away the two dogs and two cats that stayed in their room.

“It’s not great but at the same time, it was home,” the woman said. “It is a roof over our heads.”