The Other McCain

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Detroit Criminals Took Over Motel for Prostitution and Drug Dealing

Posted on | February 9, 2017 | 1 Comment

Bryant Daugherty (left) and Michael Randol (right).

Criminals took over a motel in Detroit, using it for their prostitution and drug-dealing operations, police say. Bryant Daugherty, 45, and Michael Randol, 41, were two of the criminals arrested when a task force of more than 200 law-enforcement agents raided the Victory Inn last month. Daugherty and Randol each have eight previous convictions:

“Mr. Daugherty is almost an archetype of an armed career criminal,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said during a court hearing. “His job — his career — has been a drug dealer.”

The Jan. 12 raid culminated a three-month investigation of a criminal operation in which prostitutes “were forced to live in inhumane conditions and have sex with customers in motel rooms” rented at a rate of $35 for three hours. In their raid on the 42-room motel, near Interstate 94, agents found one room “carpeted, wall to wall, with used hypodermic needles.” Fourteen prostitutes were rescued during the raid, but police are still looking for several men involved in the gang, including the reputed ringleader, known by the nickname “Tone”:

Investigators later identified “Tone” as a 48-year-old serial felon with 12 aliases whose rap sheet spans almost 30 years, including convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon, drugs and second-degree murder.

Why weren’t these lifelong criminals in prison? Does Michigan have a catch-and-release policy for pimps and drug dealers? How serious a criminal record is necessary to get somebody locked away for 15 or 20 years? How many guys are running around on the streets of Detroit with six, eight, 10, 12 convictions on their records? How many violent thieves, pimps, and dope dealers does it take to turn a city into Hell on Earth?

Two weeks after the raid, a judge ordered the motel closed:

A judge Friday shuttered a motel raided by federal agents, calling it a public nuisance plagued by prostitution, human trafficking, drugs and violent crime.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. ordered Victory Inn on Michigan Avenue east of Wyoming closed for one year and said it was impossible ownership was unaware of widespread criminal activity. The judge also ordered the furniture and fixtures be removed from the two-story, 42-room business. . . .
In 2016, the Detroit Police Department made 115 runs to the motel, which was the site of two shootings, several aggravated assaults and two homicides linked to motel guests. . . .
“This building is a nuisance,” city lawyer Charles Raimi told the judge. “In view of the notorious, the rampant, flagrant criminal activity, the only remedy is to close this building.”

Was the building a nuisance? No, the criminals were the real nuisance.

Some people are just bad people. It shouldn’t take eight convictions before somebody’s put away for good. Down in Texas, you get convicted of a third felony, and you’re going to do 15 or 25 years to life in prison. Doesn’t this nightmare motel full of prostitutes and drug needles suggest that maybe Michigan should pass a “three strikes” law?

There are more than 40,000 criminals in Michigan’s prison system but the Victory Inn case suggests that’s not nearly enough. There are too many criminals on the street, and not enough behind bars. And speaking of Michigan prisoners behind bars . . .

 

A prison inmate has been charged with raping his cellmate at the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility.
Albert Lee White IV, also known as “Smiles,” was arraigned via video on a third degree criminal sexual conduct charge Nov. 10. He’s accused of using force to sexually penetrate his bunkmate in their cell at the prison in Muskegon, said Muskegon County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat.
White, 27, is now lodged at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections web site. . . .
White is being charged as a fourth-time habitual offender. The three prior felony convictions related to the habitual offender charge are being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and receiving and concealing stolen property over $1,000, Maat said.

OK, this is his fourth felony and is there anyone who thinks Albert White should ever be released from prison? Would you want him to get paroled in 10 or 15 years and move into your neighborhood? No, so whose neighborhood do you think a paroled convict is going to live in? Probably a neighborhood like the one near the Victory Inn, where pimps and dope dealers with eight convictions on their record manage to avoid police scrutiny long enough to turn a motel into a nuisance. Crime is a people problem. Effective law enforcement is about getting the bad people off the street. Michigan’s habitual offender statute was designed to help make that happen. Signed into law in 2012 by Gov. Rick Snyder, the habitual offender statute is being invoked in another recent case:

 

A young mother is accused of sexually abusing her infant son and producing child sexually abusive material.
Jazmine Nichole Pacyga, 19, of Muskegon Township “admitted” to performing oral sex on her 3-month-old baby, according to an abuse and neglect petition filed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The petition alleges the baby’s home is unsuitable due to “drunkenness and neglect.” . . .
She faces up to life in prison.
It’s alleged that the assault occurred on Feb. 5, said Muskegon County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat.
The child has been placed in the custody of DHHS and efforts are underway to determine the baby’s father, according to court records.
Pacyga is being charged as a second-time habitual offender because of a prior conviction for felony home invasion, Maat said.
The CSC charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison, and the sexually abusive material charge normally has a maximum penalty of 20 years, but Pacyga’s habitual offender status bumps that up to 30 years, Maat said.

Question: How is it that this 19-year-old, previously convicted of a felony home invasion, was out on the streets? Did the judge think, “Well, she’s just a teenage girl, she’s no threat to anyone”? Oops.

Does anyone wonder why Donald Trump won Michigan? And does anyone wonder why Trump signed three executive orders Thursday?

President Donald Trump signed three new executive orders Thursday that he said are “designed to restore safety in America.”
Trump signed the executive orders in the Oval Office after swearing in Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
One of the orders, aimed at “reduc(ing) crime and restor(ing) public safety,” directs Sessions to establish a new Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety.
The Task Force will develop “strategies to reduce crime, including, in particular, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and violent crime,” propose new legislation, and submit at least one report to the President within the next year.

My suggestion to the Task Force would be that the Justice Department work with state and local law enforcement to identify and implement “best practices” for apprehending criminals. The investigation that led to the raid on Victory Inn was a joint federal/local operation, targeting a known location for criminal activity, and the fact that both prostitution and drugs were involved suggests that if you start busting pimps, you’re also going to be apprehending a lot of drug dealers, and catching lots of convicted felons with illegal guns. Furthermore, states that don’t have “three strikes” laws or “habitual offender” laws need to enact them, and judges need to stop letting criminals get away with slap-on-the-wrist sentences, as was apparently the case with Jazmine Pacyga.

Liberals want to stop Trump from making America safe, but who do you think the American people support? The president who wants to put criminals in jail, or liberals who want to turn criminals loose on America’s streets? Keep it up, liberals — you’re going to get wrecked.

 

Category: Crime, Michigan

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One Response to “Detroit Criminals Took Over Motel for Prostitution and Drug Dealing”

  1. FMJRA 2.0: Garryowen : The Other McCain
    February 11th, 2017 @ 10:03 pm

    […] Detroit Criminals Took Over Motel for Prostitution and Drug Dealing EBL […]