The former owner and general manager of the beleaguered Holiday Inn on Greenfield Road now face charges of selling alcohol without a license.
Jayshul Sharma of Lawrenceville, Ga., who was the general manager of the hotel at 521 Greenfield Road, and Charles Morais, who is listed as the responsible officer of Portfolio Lancaster LLC, the former owner of the property, were charged Friday before Magisterial District Judge Denise Commins.
The two men are accused of selling liquor and malt/brewed beverages without a valid liquor license on two occasions in September.
According to an affidavit filed by Officer Christopher Keisling of the State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, he went to the hotel the evening of Sept. 18, after receiving a complaint that it was selling alcohol without a license.
Around 8:10 p.m. Keisling observed a bar set up in a banquet room of the hotel, along with a menu and list of prices, according to the affidavit.
Keisling witnessed someone sell alcohol, and after identifying himself to the banquet manager was told she would follow up with information about the alcohol sales, according to the affidavit.
After calling the hotel back the following Monday, Keisling said, he was told that Sharma, the hotel's manager, authorized the purchase of the alcohol for the banquet, according to the affidavit. Keisling also was told alcohol had been purchased for a Sept. 13 event at the hotel, the affidavit states.
The banquet manager met with Keisling Oct. 20 and in a written statement said she was ordered by Sharma on several occasions to purchase alcohol and sell it during banquets.
Liquor Control Board spokesman Nick Hays said last month that the establishment's liquor license expired in February and was still in the name of Lodgian Inc., the company that owned the hotel before June 2007.
The Greenfield facility was one of 16 hotels in eight different states acquired from Lodgian for $64.9 million in a 2007 transaction by Kronos Hotels LLC, an Atlanta-based hotel chain founded by Morais. Portfolio Lancaster LLC was a subsidiary of Kronos.
Morais recently was arrested in Marietta, Ga., on charges of being a fugitive from justice. He was wanted in Arkansas on charges of fraud related to bounced checks.
In October lenders foreclosed on the 16 facilities owned by Kronos, and the Greenfield Road site had its Holiday Inn franchise revoked.
Hotel workers picketed the hotel on Oct. 24, saying they hadn't been paid in weeks. Dallas-based Prism Hotels and Resorts, which now manages the hotel, issued paychecks with back pay about a week later, saying that the previous owners had left it without access to the payroll systems. Prism has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
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