U.S. attorney describes chaotic scene of drug raid at north Charlotte hotel | WSOC-TV

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:01]They weren't just holding a handgun like you or I would hold a handgun. They were storing it in the back of their toilet.

[00:00:08]>> Only on nine, authorities say guns discovered behind hotel toilets paint a picture of what was happening there.

[00:00:15]>> Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and FBI agents swarmed this hotel off Reagan Drive for hours yesterday, arresting multiple people that they say were involved in a drug operation.

[00:00:26]>> All new at 5:30, our crime reporter Hunter Signs got inside access to this 6-month-long investigation.

[00:00:34]>> I'm told when law enforcement moved in, they heard toilets flushing throughout the halls of the hotel as they say the suspects tried to get rid of their drugs.

[00:00:48]>> As the FBI and CMPD swarmed the halls of the Garden Inn Hotel on Reagan Drive, this is what they found inside some of the rooms. Drugs in plastic bags so the substance wouldn't get wet in the bathroom, and guns hidden inside the tank of a toilet.

[00:01:05]>> Heavy artillery guns. I mean, these were big weapons with lots of ammunition around that could do a lot of harm.

[00:01:12]>> US Attorney for the Western District, Russ Ferguson, sat down with me to talk about the 6-month investigation that's still unraveling today. As we first reported yesterday, the security team hired by the hotel, who the FBI says was led by Marcus Logan, the man seen here in yellow, was in on the drug operation.

[00:01:34]Investigators say some members of the so-called security team were known by police, some with gang affiliations.

[00:01:42]It's the same security team authorities say was not helpful with police investigations in the past, including this shooting that happened in August of 2025.

[00:01:52]Surveillance video shows an alleged shooter with a gun drawn walking past two security guards, including Logan.

[00:02:00]Later, the gun thrown near one of the guard's feet, but CMPD says security told them they never saw a thing and would not share their surveillance video with police. CMPD met with the owner of the hotel, warning her of what was happening, telling her to do background checks on the security team she hired, but they say she didn't. Why hasn't she been charged yet?

[00:02:24]>> We have no evidence at this moment that she is dealing drugs, that that she is dealing guns. Uh we did seize evidence from the hotel office. We did seize some electronic evidence. So, we will see what her involvement is.

[00:02:34]>> The feds are now trying to seize that property, and if they do, they could auction it off or the current owner could strike a deal with them where they get part of the profit from the sale, but the feds would have a say in the conditions of who owns it next. At police headquarters in uptown, Hunter Signs, Channel 9, Eyewitness News.

[00:02:57]>> In 2024, new owners bought two hotels in the Sugar Creek Corridor and turned them into affordable housing, or attainable was the word they used. Families living at the Rodeway Inn and the Charlotte Speedway Inn had to move out for the renovations. Crisis Assistance helped them find places to go. The buildings reopened last year as apartments.