For the second time this month, the Problem Oriented Policing (POP) Unit of the Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) makes arrests following a raid on a motel which has become a haven for drug dealers and users.
After securing a search warrant, members of the POP and Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) units rolled onto the Best Southern Sun Plaza Motel (1011 South Ridgewood Avenue) around 12:45 p.m. Sunday (December 13, 2020), taking three people away in handcuffs along with two firearms and various kinds of narcotics found inside one of the rooms.
Those guns and the drugs - including marijuana, methamphetamine and MDMA – were found alongside fake currency, real currency, ammunition and various kinds of drug paraphernalia inside a room at the Sun Plaza which was rented out to 28-year-old Erica M. Mulcahy.
Mulcahy was also found in the room during the raid and taken into custody on four felony and two misdemeanor charges, according to DBPD Patrol Captain Scott Lee.
“This motel has been a popular spot for drug users looking to purchase narcotics,” Lee, who oversees the POP Unit, added. “We’ve received all kinds of complaints about the Sun Plaza for quite some time from people who live in the area. It was time to do something about it.”
Two others were also led away in handcuffs by DBPD following the raid. 69-year-old Frederick J. Hoffman is the owner of the Sun Plaza and had recently hired 63-year-old Dennis Kindziera to manage the property.
“It’s clear that both Hoffman and Kindziera knew about the Sun Plaza being a haven for drugs and neither one of them did anything about it,” Lee noted. “We won’t tolerate property owners or managers who let this kind of behavior slide.”
Hoffman and Kindziera each face a felony charge of keeping a public nuisance structure for drug activity. Mulcahy faces that same charge along with three counts of drug possession, including one with intent to sell. She’s also charged with resisting an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Sunday’s raid came just over a week after the POP Unit and SWAT raided the Camellia Motel on 1055 North Atlantic Avenue, taking seven people into custody.