Workers’ compensation fraud is only one of a handful of charges being leveled by the Florida State Attorney’s Office against Amir H. Khimani, owner of the Crossroads Motor Lodge in Lakeland, Fla.
Killings, arson and price-gouging charges had already been filed against the hotel owner before it was discovered the motel owes more than $100,000 in back taxes to the Polk County Tax Collector and ignored orders in April to stop operating, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Khimani was issued a “Stop Work Order” from the Florida Department of Financial Services on April 1 after a detective found Sidney DeHate repairing the motel’s roof while the motel had no workers’ compensation information on file for him, the S.A.O. reported.
DeHate told an investigator he’d been repairing the roof in exchange for a free room and $10 a day, the report said.
Khimani was ordered to stop operating the motel until the department lifted the order. But DeHate was found working on the roof four days later and again April 11, the report said.
Investigators also found several other motel boarders like DeHate working around the motel in exchange for room and board, the report said.
When investigators confronted Khimani, he told them he was not the motel’s owner, and that the hotel was operated by a company in Canada, the report said.
The Lakeland Ledger cited a State Attorney’s Office report indicating that two arrest warrants have been issued for Khimani, the motel’s president and manager, for two counts of willful intent to evade paying tax and one count of using tax money declared as state funds.
Khimani is also wanted for workers’ compensation fraud, the report said. It said the Crossroads Motor Lodge should have been shut down more than two years ago.
In April 1998, Khimani took over Lakeland Hospitality Inc., now Crossroads Motor Lodge, the report said.
The Florida Secretary of State’s Office “administratively dissolved” Lakeland Hospitality Inc. in 2003 for failing to file a required annual report, the report said.
Khimani then switched the name of the motel to Crossroads Motor Lodge and continued doing business illegally, the report said.
More than $100,000 in unpaid tourist development taxes, which are imposed on the price of motel rooms, have accumulated since 1998, the report said.
Khimani made two trips last year to the Polk County Tax Collector’s Office to negotiate and pay the delinquent taxes, but failed to make payment, the report said.
Investigators told Khimani he could face jail time if he continues to operate the motel.
In May, investigators saw cars parked in the parking lot, with business at the motel continuing.
“We went to the office and stood by while Khimani rented (out) a room,” an investigator reported.
In January, a 39-year-old suspected bank robber, Wesley Caruthers, used the motel as a hideout and was subsequently shot in the back while trying to elude Polk County Sheriff’s Deputies.
In February, a pair of arsons occurred at the motel.
Lakeland police say they have been called to the motel more than 200 times, including in October 2004 when 45-year-old Charles M. Butler was run over and killed in the motel’s parking lot after a drug deal had gone bad, records show.
In 2004, the motel owner was also accused of price gouging following Hurricane Charley.
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