Sayville Motel Sold For $2M After Sex Trafficking, Drug Charges: Feds

SAYVILLE, NY — The Sayville Motor Lodge, which was shut down last year after its owners were charged with sex trafficking and illegal drug charges, has officially been sold.

The United States announced a $2 million sale of the motel, located at 5494 Sunrise Hwy in Sayville, was completed on Tuesday, to a company that is partially owned by a principal of a neighboring business with longstanding ties to the community on Tuesday.

United States District Judge Joanna Seybert approved the sale, with the payment out of the sale’s proceeds to prior lenders on the property, 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 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.

In November 2022, an indictment was unsealed in federal court in Central Islip charging Timothy Bullen, 36, of Bay Shore, Michael Johnson, 34, of Delaware, Narendarakuma Dadarwala, 77 of Sayville, his wife Shardaben Dadarwala, 70, of Sayville, their son Jigar Dadarwala, 45, of Sayville, Ashokbhai Patel, 59, of Nebraska, 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, prosecutors said.

"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."

The Dadarwalas owned and operated the Sayville Motor Lodge since approximately 1984. They resided and worked at the motel, according to court filings.

From 2017 to 2019, Ashokbhai Patel was employed and also lived there. Together, 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.

Prosecutors said they were aware that women engaged in prostitution, including at least one minor trafficking victim.

They also 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 about 2014 until 2018, Bullen allegedly operated his sex trafficking business out of the Sayville Motor Lodge, in coordination with the Dadarwalas and Patel.

Johnson also allegedly operated his sex trafficking business out of the Sayville Motor Lodge, from about 2018 until 2020, in coordination with the Dadarwalas and Patel, proseuctors said.

In addition to Bullen's and Johnson's trafficking of several women out of the motel, including a minor, they routinely subjected the women who worked for them to mental and physical violence, prosecutors said.

The duo also kept the women who worked for them addicted to drugs and introduced them to prostitution in exchange for drugs.

Since 2014 Dadarwalas, Patel, and Himanshu, Inc. also 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, prosecutors said.

In connection with the indictment, the government sought to forfeit the Sayville Motor Lodge. 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, prosecutors said.

"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.