Reported gang member charged with selling drugs from notorious Hosmer Street motel
Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged a 23-year-old reported gang member with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl after a series of undercover operations at the shuttered Econo Lodge on South Hosmer Street in Tacoma, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Darnell King was a “frequent resident” of the motel, officials said, which closed in March and has long been an epicenter of crime on the dangerous commercial corridor. He was observed by authorities selling counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl in May and July out of the largely boarded-up establishment.
King’s arrest Wednesday followed a joint operation between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Tacoma Police Department, according to the Department of Justice. King, a member of a street gang who goes by “Solo,” had been arrested three times at other locations between July and August for drug and firearm offenses, federal court records show.
In all three instances, King struggled with officers or tried to resist arrest and, in one instance, reached toward an officer’s firearm, according to court records.
“ATF conducted a series of undercover operations at the Econo Lodge in mid-August, during which King was seen numerous times engaging in what appeared to be drug trafficking behavior,” the department said in a news release.
Authorities executed a high-risk federal search warrant at the hotel room where King was staying and found three firearms, body armor, ammunition and what they believed to be fentanyl, officials said.
If convicted, King faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
A second suspect was arrested on an unrelated second-degree robbery warrant, Tacoma police spokesperson Wendy Haddow said.
Authorities were aided in their investigation by a confidential informant with a lengthy felony criminal history, including convictions for robbery, burglary and assault with a firearm, according to federal court records, which also indicated that surveillance of the motel was “ongoing.”
The Econo Lodge has been the site of two of South Hosmer Street’s five homicides this year. Although it is transitioning into low-income housing, people continue to live there, and the motel remains a hotbed for drugs and violence, current and previous owners say.
Emily Hubbard, co-owner of Sage Investment Group, which purchased the site for $8.7 million, told The News Tribune earlier this year that the company inherited holdover rental agreements between the former owner and people who could not be immediately evicted due to pandemic-era rules. The investment group installed watchtower surveillance cameras that have helped law enforcement make drugs and weapons busts, she said.
Tami Rasmussen is the regional manager at the adjacent Quality Inn & Suites and formerly worked at the Econo Lodge. Rasmussen had estimated as many as 50 squatters had broken into the Econo Lodge’s rooms since its closure.
Haddow said all rooms at the Econo Lodge were boarded up Thursday, except for five where people were living lawfully. Police and community representatives first spoke to people staying in several rooms and offered them services.
Before King moved into the Econo Lodge, he stayed at HomeTowne Studios, a nearby motel that has faced similarly dangerous conditions and from where he was evicted in April, according to federal court records.
“South Hosmer Street has become a center of gun violence, human trafficking, and drugs in recent years,” the Department of Justice said.
This story was originally published September 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
