Law enforcement searches 12 rooms at Serena Inn
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on August 22, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Members of several law enforcement agencies, including the Wayne and Johnston County Sheriff's Office, Goldsboro Police Department and North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, stand guard outside of rooms being searched at the Serena Inn Saturday night. More than 70 officers took part in the raid.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Cpl. Jerimee Hooker searches through a mini refrigerator in room 153 of the Serena Inn Saturday night.
Law enforcement officers from various local and state agencies executed search warrants on 12 rooms at the Serena Inn in Goldsboro at 708 Corporate Drive Saturday night just after 8.
Saturday night's operation was law enforcement's reaction to six months of ongoing complaints about the Serena Inn, which has been officially labeled as a nuisance by the city as of the beginning of last week.
Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West said the Serena Inn will have 30 days to correct the issues identified by the city that labels it as a nuisance or else it will be shut down.
But the process has been complicated by frequent turnover in management, which resets the clock on how quickly the city can label the business as a nuisance, West said.
But there has been an ongoing pattern of complaints about the hotel, which gave law enforcement the ability to take more aggressive steps to curb the problem, West said.
"Ownership of the Serena Inn changed six years ago, but management changed as recently as four weeks ago," West said. "That might be their technique, you could say."
More than 70 officers from North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, the Goldsboro Police Department, the Wayne County REACT team, the Wayne County ACE team, the Wayne County SWAT team and the Johnston County SWAT team served the search warrants on 12 rooms at the Serena Inn.
Authorities staged in an area near the hotel before surrounding the area and using battering rams to gain entry to the 12 rooms warrants were served on.
West declined to reveal the area where officers staged before the operation, saying "we might use it again in the future."
Alice Iglesias and her daughter, Emily Iglesias, live in Room 161 at the Serena Inn and said they were alarmed when authorities began beating on the door of the room next to them, which was Room 159.
"I peeked out of the window and see police yelling and hearing them tell people, 'Police! Open up!'," Alice said. "They busted in the door next to our room, and it shook my room."
Alice said she and her daughter are originally from Florida and began living in Goldsboro roughly one year ago, and have been living at the Serena Inn for about a month and a half.
"We came out of the room and saw police with their guns drawn going into the room next to us, and there was so much smoke I almost choked," Emily said.
While police searched the 12 rooms they executed search warrants on, the occupants of the rooms sat on the ground outside in handcuffs.
"We aren't inherently just doing a search for drugs in the rooms," said Maj. Tom Effler with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
Effler said law enforcement was searching for any and all criminal activity happening in the rooms they searched and also checked each person they arrested for outstanding warrants.
Not everyone that was put in handcuffs Saturday night was charged with a crime.
Several rooms were searched on the outside perimeter of the hotel, both on the ground level and upper level, but the majority of the activity took place inside the courtyard in the middle of the hotel.
Many residents poked their heads out of their doors to see what was happening inside the courtyard, and many asked when they would be allowed to come out of their rooms again.
As teams of law enforcement officers searched rooms and took items outside of rooms as evidence, residents gathered in small groups here and there and smoked cigarettes and watched the events of the night unfold.
On the ground in the middle of the courtyard was a small, black grill, still cooking someone's dinner as officers searched the rooms and residents were told to stay inside.
Ty'Keyria Seaberry also lives at the Serena Inn and said she was walking from one room to another when officers descended on the hotel.
"I was coming back to my room from a friend's room and heard officers shouting to get on the ground and then saw officers with their guns drawn," Ms. Seaberry said. "They brought us outside here and then one of the men told us that we were okay."
Information on what rooms warrants were executed on and how many people were charged during the raid was not available as of press time.