ANAHEIM : City Seeks to Have Motel Closed for Year

The city has accused the owners of a Disneyland-area motel of permitting prostitution and drug use on their property and have filed an injunction to shut it for one year.

The city alleges in a lawsuit filed Friday that the owners of Tops Motel, 909 S. Harbor Blvd., have allowed prostitutes to engage in their activities and solicit business on the property for at least the last seven years.

During that time, the owners have also allowed controlled substances to be stored, sold, used and manufactured at the motel, the city has alleged.

One of the owners of the 30-room motel, Wen Ming-Tsuen, denied the allegations Monday and said he and the other owners had never knowingly participated in any of the activities the city charged. The other owner named in the lawsuit was identified as Huang A-Mei.

“We don’t have any prostitution here or drug activity,” he said. “We never do that. When somebody comes here to rent a room, we don’t know what they are doing.”

Ming-Tsuen said many people use the motel parking lot without asking and he and his employees “kick them out if we find out they are no good.”

“We cannot control what these people do,” he said. “We do not use drugs. We are a family here.”

The city’s lawsuit, filed by City Atty. Jack L. White, asks the court to close the motel for a year and possibly sell the property to pay for attorney and court-related fees.