{"id":905,"date":"2026-05-30T10:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=905"},"modified":"2026-05-30T10:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:04:31","slug":"innocent-people-living-at-sugar-creek-hotel-can-stay-after-police-fbi-drug-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=905","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Innocent people\u2019 living at Sugar Creek hotel can stay after police, FBI drug raid"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sugar Creek hotel raided by police and FBI agents<\/a> on Wednesday wasn\u2019t just an alleged place for drug sales, but a home to \u201cinnocent people,\u201d including children, said Russ Ferguson, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Read more West Charlotte applauds plans for resurrecting Excelsior Club: \u2018Long time coming\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Those people will be able to continue living at the Charlotte Garden Inn and Suites while the owner is taken to court as the feds try to take the property, Ferguson said at a news conference at CMPD\u2019s uptown headquarters Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The hotel \u201ccannot be sold or transferred in any way,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cThis is a hotel, even if we ultimately seized it and auction it off, it\u2019s most likely a hotel operator will buy it, so we don\u2019t expect any interruption for the innocent victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hotel, located on Reagan Drive, is owned and operated by a woman named Jessica Woodard, according to Ferguson. An employee at the hotel said Woodard was not interested in speaking with The Charlotte Observer on Friday about the raid.<\/p>\n

The hotel was raided by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and FBI agents \u2014 some wearing green camoflauge and riding in military-style vehicles \u2014 after a six-month investigation revealed a drug dealing, Ferguson said. Ten people have been arrested in connection so far.<\/p>\n

Ferguson did not say how many people live at the hotel, but it was a stark reminder that many people in Charlotte experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity live in them as an affordable housing option.<\/p>\n

On Reagan Drive, a sign for the Garden Inn and Suites advertises \u201csingle weekly,\u201d \u201clow rates,\u201d and \u201cbest value,\u201d in capital letters.<\/p>\n

City and county officials, as well as local nonprofits have used hotels as a way to provide housing to people experiencing homelessness. But conditions can vary.<\/p>\n

Read more Hayden Panettiere Praises \u2018Strong\u2019 Paris Jackson After Addiction Struggles<\/a><\/p>\n

Forest Point Place, a former hotel that was purchased by Mecklenburg County<\/a> in December 2022 with $15 million from COVID-era American Rescue Plan Act funds, opened in 2025. The county said it would be used to house seniors and homeless people.<\/p>\n

But in the case of the Lamplighter Inn in west Charlotte, a Charlotte Observer investigation in July 2024<\/a> found people lived in poor conditions until its closure at the end of the year. Many people living there were relocated after the Charlotte Fire Department condemned the hotel.<\/p>\n

Police and FBI found themselves on standby Wednesday morning before conducting the joint operation because of a school bus picking up students, Ferguson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched this morning as a school bus picked children up from the hotel,\u201d he said at the Wednesday press conference. \u201cThey waited for the school bus to depart, for those children to safely get to school, before the operation started.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were 1,134 CMS students living in hotels between 2023 and 2024, according to housing data from Mecklenburg County<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ferguson said he spoke to some of the people living at the hotel when police and FBI conducted the operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the hotel itself serves as almost like a farmer\u2019s market for drugs and guns,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cMultiple rooms, on multiple levels, of people buying guns and drugs, and those innocent people that are living there were duped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Rural NC police officer filmed beating woman is suspended by police chief<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CMPD and FBI waited for a school bus to clear before raiding the Charlotte Sugar Creek hotel, arresting four on federal drug and firearm charges Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Innocent people\u2019 living at Sugar Creek hotel can stay after police, FBI drug raid - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=905\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Innocent people\u2019 living at Sugar Creek hotel can stay after police, FBI drug raid - 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