Additional charge added in case against Lynbrook's Capri motel

After testimony was given earlier this month at the first hearing to decide whether the owners of the Capri Lynbrook Motor Inn should have their room rental license revoked, Lynbrook Village attorney Peter Ledwith informed them of an additional charge. At the second hearing on March 22, Ledwith explained that the motel violated section 78-16 of the village’s code when it failed to maintain a proper registry of guests.

According to the code, every hotel in Lynbrook must maintain a registry that lists all of its guests, the dates of occupancy and the room that the guest is staying in. These registries must also be made available to Lynbrook police and village officials. “Failure to maintain, keep and exhibit such a register shall be revocation of the license,” the code reads.

But when Lynbrook Detective Robert Harrison conducted an investigation into the Capri before the hearings began, he asked for the motel’s registry and was handed a list of only first names. Harrison took a picture of the registry and photocopied two more pages from the previous days’, which Ledwith introduced it into evidence at the first hearing on March 16.

In response, the attorneys representing the motel’s seven co-owners presented the hearing committee, comprised of Deputy Mayor Alan Beach and Village Trustees Hilary Becker and Ann Marie Reardon, with 39 pages of registration cards. “We believe that we are in conformance with the village code,” said Benedict Gullo, one of the attorneys representing the Capri motel. “We have guests with their names, addresses [and] so forth filled out.”

Ledwith, however, said he believes that the Capri violated the village’s code because the motel’s management failed to provide Harrison with the registration cards. He also believes that the registry list and registration cards suggest that they maintained two separate registries.

“I went home that nigh and went ‘Holy cow, they’re running two sets of books,’” Ledwith said about his reaction after the first hearing on March 16.

According to Ledwith, the violation should be enough to revoke the owners’ room rental license. The next hearings against the Capri owners are scheduled for April 6 and April 13.