Image from the Waterbury Police Department.
ANSONIA — Waterbury police arrested three people Wednesday for allegedly selling drugs out of two rooms of the Big Apple Motel on West Main Street in Waterbury.
The arrests were first reported by The Republican-American of Waterbury.
The incident has Ansonia ramifications because the owner of the Big Apple Motel has an application pending in front of the city’s planning and zoning commission to open a 25-room motel and gas station at 557 Wakelee Ave. next to exit 19, off Route 8 north.
The plans for the motel were unveiled at a meeting in Ansonia last month. The public’s biggest concern was that a motel on Wakelee Avenue would bring more crime to Ansonia. Click here for a previous Valley Indy story.
A formal public hearing on the Wakelee Avenue motel plan is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, April 26. Check the City of Ansonia website next week for the agenda and Zoom info needed to participate in the meeting.
After news of the police raid in Waterbury became public on Thursday, The Valley Indy reached out to Dominick Thomas, the lawyer representing Big Apple Motel owner Aijaz Ahmen in front of the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission.
The Valley Indy asked Thomas how he would respond to Ansonia residents who say crimes at the Waterbury motel should preclude an approval for a new motel in Ansonia.
Thomas said comparing West Main Street in Waterbury to Wakelee Avenue in Ansonia is not fair, and that motels are allowed on the property in Ansonia.
“The motel proposed for 557 Wakelee is a permitted use in the commercial zone,” Thomas said in an email. “What is happening at another motel, in a completely different community, is not a valid or legal reason to deny a permitted use that complies with the regulations. It is not the use that creates a problem. Very often it is the area in which the use is in. As a permitted use, the proposed motel complies with all the zoning regulations.”
According to court documents and a statement from law enforcement, Waterbury police set up surveillance at a specific room within the Big Apple Motel after receiving a tip that a guy nicknamed “Ghost” was selling narcotics there.
During the stakeout cops watched “numerous individuals going to room 105, knocking on the door, and meeting with individuals inside of the room for a short period of time.”
Police approached the room about 4 p.m. Wednesday (April 14) with a search and seizure warrant and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so police entered using a key given to them by the management.
Once inside, police said they found an array of drugs, a gun — and a key to another motel room. A second search warrant for the other room uncovered more drugs and another gun.
The total take, according to police:
- One .9mm Glock
- One .38 Colt Revolver
- 434 bags of Heroin
- 9.8 grams of crack
- 130 grams of marijuana
- 15 assorted pills
- $417
Waterbury police said three people were arrested:
- Gabriel “Ghost” Deleon, 30, of Waterbury
- Jhari Thomas, 22, of New Haven
- Michelle Bosch, 43, of Waterbury
According to an incident report, Deleon had rented one of the rooms for two days starting April 13, indicating police were quickly tipped off. The document did not say when the second room was rented.
Police said Bosch and Deleon have previous felony convictions on their criminal records. They were charged with with two counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, one count of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, one count of possession with a controlled substance, failure to store pills in a proper container, illegal possession near a school zone, altercation of a firearms serial numbers, two counts of illegal sale or transfer of a pistol or revolver, criminal possession of a pistol or revolver, criminal possession of a firearm or ammunition, and operating a drug factory.
Thomas was charged with two counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, one count of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, one count of possession with a controlled substance, failure to store pills in a proper container, illegal possession near a school zone, altercation of a firearms serial numbers, two counts of illegal sale or transfer of a pistol or revolver, and operating a drug factory.
During the March 29 meeting of the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission during which the plans for the Wakelee Avenue motel were received, Ahmen’s representatives at the meeting declined to say what other motels he operates.
However, addresses listed on the site plan matched business records connected to the Big Apple Motel on file with the state.
Last year The Republican-American of Waterbury reported that police and firefighters responded to 743 calls to the Big Apple Motel between 2015 and 2020.
Last year Timothy C. Moynahan, a lawyer who previously represented the motel owner, wrote an op-ed in The Connecticut Post saying the motel was subjected to false rumors and that the calls for service to the address were evidence of a responsible business owner.
He wrote:
In fact, the proprietors tried to reduce crime in the neighborhood, essentially becoming a set of eyes and ears for law enforcement. Crimes were committed in the neighborhood — not in the motel. Motel personnel called police to report criminal activity. Perhaps that is why police reports note many calls came from the motel.
Mayor David Cassetti’s administration has been quiet on the Wakelee Avenue motel application so far. That’s not unusual, as many local administrations don’t officially weigh-in on P&Z applications because the statements can come back to haunt cities if the matter ends up in court.
John Marini, Ansonia’s corporation counsel, released the following statement Friday morning (April 16):
“We are concerned about the application, particularly with respect to the potentially incongruous uses proposed for the site, and the reputation of the applicant’s other establishments. This application will be afforded the same level of scrutiny all development proposals receive at the Planning and Zoning Commission. Residents and officials with comments should feel free to offer testimony during the public hearing process.”
Ansonia Alderman Tony Mammone previously left a public comment on The Valley Indy’s Facebook page questioning why The Valley Indy posted about the motel application several times but didn’t cover a meeting at which the proposed Ansonia budget moved from the Ansonia Board of Apportionment to the Ansonia Board of Aldermen.
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