United States Facilitates Court-Ordered Sale of Sayville Motor Lodge to New Owner

The United States yesterday completed the sale of the Sayville Motor Lodge in Sayville, Long Island to a company that is partially owned by a principal of a neighboring business with longstanding ties to the community.  By Order entered on September 11, 2023, United States District Judge Joanna Seybert approved today’s sale of the Sayville Motor Lodge for the sum of $2 million, with the payment out of the sale’s proceeds to prior lenders on the property.  The remaining proceeds are earmarked for forfeiture to the United States government, which will enable the office to seek their use in compensating the victims of the charged conduct through the Department of Justice’s remission procedures.

The Sayville Motor Lodge was a drug-involved property at the center of a sex trafficking conspiracy based on Long Island.  In November 2022, an indictment was unsealed in federal court in Central Islip charging Timothy Bullen, Michael Johnson, Narendarakuma Dadarwala, his wife Shardaben Dadarwala, their son Jigar Dadarwala, Ashokbhai Patel, and Himanshu, Inc. d/b/a Sayville Motor Lodge with sex trafficking conspiracy.  The Dadarwalas, Patel, and Himanshu, Inc. were also charged with managing a drug premises, and Narendarakuma Dadarwala was charged with distribution of proceeds of prostitution and narcotics businesses.  Charges against the defendants are pending.  There is no trial date at the present time.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Vincent F. DeMarco, United States Marshal for the Eastern District of New York, announced the sale of the property.

“As a result of this sale, the Sayville Motor Lodge is no longer ground zero of an insidious money-maker for prostitution and narcotics trafficking, and a blight on the surrounding community,” stated United States Attorney Peace.  “Instead, the property will be repurposed by its new owner for the benefit of the residents of Long Island.”

Mr. Peace thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, the Suffolk County Police Department, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, United States Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations for their work on the case.

“The closing of the sale of this property yesterday is a positive step that will increase public safety in this community,” stated United States Marshal DeMarco.

The Underlying Sex Trafficking Scheme

As set forth in court filings, the Dadarwalas owned and operated the Sayville Motor Lodge since approximately 1984.  They resided and worked at the motel.  From 2017 to 2019, Ashokbhai Patel was employed and also lived there.  The Dadarwalas and Patel facilitated the criminal activity at the Sayville Motor Lodge and profited from the prostitution and narcotics activity that routinely took place there.  They were aware that women engaged in prostitution, including at least one minor trafficking victim.  They warned traffickers and women engaged in prostitution when law enforcement was on the premises and observed traffickers inflict physical violence on their victims and customers. 

From approximately 2014 until 2018, Bullen allegedly operated his sex trafficking business out of the Sayville Motor Lodge, in coordination with the Dadarwalas and Patel; and from approximately 2018 until 2020, Johnson allegedly operated his sex trafficking business out of the Sayville Motor Lodge, in coordination with the Dadarwalas and Patel.  Bullen and Johnson trafficked several women out of the motel, including a minor, and routinely subjected the women who worked for them to mental and physical violence.  In furtherance of their respective operations, Bullen and Johnson kept the women who worked for them addicted to drugs and introduced them to prostitution in exchange for drugs.

In addition, from 2014 to the present, the Dadarwalas, Patel, and Himanshu, Inc. profited from the narcotics trafficking that was conducted openly on Sayville Motor Lodge property.  The defendants allowed customers to freely use drugs, including heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine, in plain view and in motel rooms.  Much like the traffickers, drug dealers paid the Sayville defendants for the privilege of selling drugs at the Sayville Motor Lodge. 

The Government Obtains Order To Restrain The Sayville Motor Lodge

In connection with the indictment, the government sought to forfeit the Sayville Motor Lodge.  In addition, to ensure the property was preserved for forfeiture, the United States obtained an order restraining the defendants from transferring, encumbering or operating the Sayville Motor Lodge in violation of law.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division.  Assistant United States Attorneys Catherine M. Mirabile, Samantha S. Alessi and Brian Morris are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendants:

TIMOTHY BULLEN, also known as “Trouble,” “T” and “Tiervoni,”
Age: 36
Bay Shore, New York

MICHAEL JOHNSON, also known as “Wise”
Age: 34
Selbyville, Delaware

JIGAR DADARWALA, also known as “Cobra”
Age: 45 
Sayville, New York

NARENDARAKUMA DADARWALA, also known as “Naren,” “Pa” and “Dad”
Age: 77
Sayville, New York

SHARDABEN DADARWALA, also known as “Sharda,” “Ma” and “Mom”
Age: 70
Sayville, New York

ASHOKBHAI PATEL, also known as “BG”
Age: 59
Omaha, Nebraska

HIMANSHU, INC. d/b/a Sayville Motor Lodge

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-494 (JS)