The managers of the Select10 Hotel were busted for drug dealing a year ago. JPD arrested brothers Johnn and Andrew Batshoun as well as their mother Vivian at the motel on 4639 I-55 N Frontage Road on August 25, 2018. However, fortune smiled upon the Batshouns as the mother and a brother escaped prosecution.
JPD got a tip from a confidential informant that marijuana was sold at the hotel on August 29, 2018. The police observed the two brothers smoking weed at the front of the lobby were guests check into the hotel. They saw marijuana transported, broken down, and divided into small bags. Marijuana was stored in the lobby as well as two first-floor rooms occupied by Johnny and Vivian.
The police obtained a search warrant and raided the hotel with a K-9 unit. JJ obtained the police report through a public records request. The police report states:
After advising them all that we were executing a Narcotics search warrant, the odor of Marijuana became strong the closer we got to the back office. When entering the main Office I noticed Marijuana broken down into smaller pieces, Marijuana residue inside of bowls, a grinder, and a digital scale in plain view on the desk. When looking inside the top right drawer there was a small amount of Marijuana recovered inside of a plastic bag. When looking inside of the bottom right drawer I discovered US Currency which totaled to be $930.00.
At that time we checked the bottom left drawer and recovered 304 Grams of believed Marijuana that was separated into bags with different labels of different types of believed Marijuana.
A box of .40 caliber pistol ammunition was discovered in the main office. Andrew told the police there was a pistol behind the counter. There is just one problem. Andrew is a convicted felon who was "possibly wanted out of Los Angeles for trafficking narcotics." His conviction was for selling marijuana. He also had a conviction in Michigan for receiving stolen property and is forbidden from being around firearms. The police turned their attention to Vivian Batshoun:
(6). When exiting the main lobby and approaching Vivian1 s room (Room 100), we could smell an overwhelming odor of Marijuana coming from her room also. When we opened the door the odor of Marijuana became even stronger. When searching her room I recovered a glass smoking pipe containing believed Marijuana residue in the kitchen cabinet, a total of thirteen believed Marijuana joints throughout her room, and four none-narcotic pills in her bedroom dresser.
Police found a joint and grinder in Johnny's room. Johnny said all of the weed found in the main office belonged to him. Vivian and Andrew backed up Johnny's claim.
JPD did it's job and busted the hotel. However, the case got to the District Attorney's office. The District Attorney did not obtain an indictment against Vivian Batshoun. The hotel is host to the Exquisite Nightclub. Want to guess who has the liquor license for the nightclub? Vivian. JJ obtained a copy of the ABC permit through a public records request.
Vivian is a member of the Isaiah Enterprises, LLC at 4639 I-55 North Frontage Road. However, Johnny Bathsoun is a member of Exquisite Lounge, LLC at the same address. A grand jury indicted him on December 5, 2018 for possession of 255 grams of marijuana with intent to distribute. However, the District Attorney went easy on Johnny B and remanded the case to the inactive docket.
The grand jury indicted Andrew in December for one count of possession 255 grams of marijuana (no mention is made of intent to distribute or sell said weed) and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The Batshouns do not own the hotel. That distinction belongs to Ibrahim and Susan Khoder of Baton Rouge. They owned the property through two LLC's and then themselves since at least 2002. They usually don't pay the property taxes for several years and then redeem them before the property is sold.
The hotel has been the scene of criminal activity for quite some time. A man shot his ex-girlfriend there in April. Posted below are the arrests from 2015 to April 2019. The length is somewhat deceiving as there are multiple entries for ten individuals.
Kingfish note: The District Attorney yet again dropping cases. Who knew?
The hotel is right by the last remaining decent section of retail in Jackson. Select 10 is next door to Banner Hall and across the street from Maywood Mart, Highland Village as well as down the street from The District at Eastover.
Do these friggin clowns in the D.A.'s office, courts, and yes, the Mayor's office know how to keep businesses in Jackson? Rankin and Madison would've shut this crap down or made life real tough on the owners/managers/operators/titleoftheday real quick.
17 comments:
Since the new DA doesn’t plan to put anyone in jail, why bother arresting them ?
C'mon its just a little weed and an illegally possessed (probably stolen) pistol - in the New Jack Radical City this is just how we roll! And I heard they all have glaucoma.
Don't hold your breath waiting for Jody the scam Owens to do a thing. He now has realized he was elected to a position he has no experience or clue about. Panic mode
If Lynn Finch will cut her hair before Tues, I will vote for her. Otherwise Andrew gets my vote.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Chawla, pre-eminent, wealthy Indian financier, mogul, hotel builder and Man-About-The-Delta was arrested at the Memphis airport several days ago for stealing luggage. I wonder if he is related to this family? Maybe attend joint family picnics up around Greenwood?
Chawla had laid out plans for a massive hotel in Cleveland, claiming to be in partnership with the Trumps who would co-operate the place...crickets for a year now as the Trumps backed out and the plans collect dust.
He was captured on video taking luggage off the belt and putting it in his car trunk and then departing on a flight. The FBI towed the car and discovered the stolen luggage and more. He admitted to the theft. This is no doubt a federal crime since the luggage, until properly claimed, is probably under FAA jurisdiction or oversight. The feds probably have been taping him for awhile during his luggage-collection escapades.
8:58 AM, as funny as your comment is, Mississippi still is light-years away from medical marijuana. So, that glaucoma will just have to wait.
@ 11:11 What's in the suitcase? Ha
read the order. the defendant was admitted to the pretrial intervention program. thats where one is basically allowed to buy his way out of a criminal charge and its completely legal. these pretrial intervention programs are run by the office of the district attorney.........not MDOC. they are in most every county . madison /rankin have a real big one. all of the money goes to the DAs offices, not MDOC.
Darn, this new DA could be a win/win.
1. No prosecutions
2. Then no arrests
3. No arrests = no crime
4. Close down the JPD
5. Use the savings to pave the roads and fix the water system
6. Happy times are here again...
Are the police sure it was marijuana they smelled? The perps may have been cooking curry. Just sayin'.....
Who would have thought anything like that was going on there? Next you're gonna tell me I should avoid the hotels on Hwy 80 in Jackson!
So you are saying this is a TripAdviser 4 star hotel, huh? :)
Darn, where else is a fella to find a "no-tell motel" to get an occasional "strange?"
You idiots who would make jokes about India do not know that these are low caste scum and are not learned scholars or doctors. These people should be shunned and they are shunned in India.
I worked for them... they are all crooked black hearted schemings criminals... you would not believe the stuff I had to accept as normal everyday... being threatened with weapons, people injecting drugs in the laundry room, prostitution, the maids husband shooting it out w police officers, another employee stealing my car and the police wouldn’t even do a report, guests dying of overdoses(x3), counterfeit money, people breaking into rooms to use drugs patronize prostitutes and occasionally sleep, one former co either is in jail for killing a man on Mill St.....it’s nuts... I couldn’t go to work without being armed
That is the frustrating part. The Mayor is allowing that side of I-55 to turn into Highway 80. Sex trafficking, prostitution, and drug dealing goes on at the hotel/extended stay at the end of Fortification yet the Mayor does nothing about it.
Is this the family that just got kicked out of St Andrews b/c of unspecified bad conduct?
Post a Comment