The FBI and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department raided the Garden Inn Hotel on Reagan Drive on Wednesday as part of a joint operation into illegal drug activity, which led to multiple arrests.
Law enforcement moved into the sound of toilets flushing throughout the halls as the suspects tried to get rid of the drugs, Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz was told.
The FBI and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department swarmed the halls of the Garden Inn Hotel on Reagan Drive and found, inside rooms, drugs in plastic bags so the substance wouldn’t get wet in the bathroom, and guns hidden in the tank of a toilet.
“These were heavy artillery guns,” said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson, Western District of North Carolina. “These were big weapons with lots of ammunition around that could do a lot of harm.”
Ferguson spoke with Sáenz the day after the raid about the ongoing six-month-long investigation.
The security team hired by the hotel, which the FBI says was led by Marcus Logan, was in on the drug operation.
Some members of the so-called security team were known by police, and some are affiliated with gangs, investigators say.
The same security team was not helpful with police investigations in the past, including a shooting that happened in August of 2025, authorities said.
Surveillance video shows an alleged shooter with a gun drawn walking past two security guards, including Logan.
The gun was later thrown near one of the guards’ feet.
However, CMPD said security told them they never saw anything and would not share their surveillance video with police.
CMPD met with the owner of the hotel, warned her of what was happening, and told her to do background checks on the security team she hired. But they say that she didn’t.
Sáenz asked Ferguson why she hadn’t been charged yet.
“We have no evidence at this moment that she is dealing drugs, that she is dealing guns,” Ferguson said. “We did seize things from the hotel office, so we will see what her involvement is.”
The feds are now trying to seize that property, and if they do, it could be auctioned off to a new owner.
The current owner could make a deal where they get some profit from the sale, but the feds get a say about who owns it next.
In 2023, the city council voted to sell the Rodeway Inn University area and the Charlotte Speedway Inn & Suites off West Sugar Creek Road.
City leaders told Channel 9 the sale was to combat crime in the area.
In 2024, families living in a north Charlotte hotel had to be relocated for new construction to begin.
Channel 9 learned last year that the motels were turned into affordable housing.
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