Inside the first fentanyl police unit in North Texas Part I: "It's a sad sight of humanity"
NORTH TEXAS — CBS News Texas has a rare look inside the fight against fentanyl in Fort Worth.
The drug is now so prevalent - and killing so many people - that the police department has created a specialized fentanyl unit. Our team spent a week with investigators, getting unprecedented access as they went undercover and built cases. As you'll see in part one, police say a lot of their work centers around a single address on the city's south side.
Full statement from S. Loyd Neal, the attorney for the hotel operator:
"It is unfair and illogical to blame the hotel owner or operator for criminal acts committed in or around the hotel, regardless of whether such crimes are committed by guests or others in the privacy of the hotel rooms, or by persons who prey upon people and their property in the parking lot and surrounding area.
Criminal activity at this hotel property is not condoned, tolerated, or encouraged. My client (BNAA Patel Hospitality, LLC) supports law enforcement and all efforts to prevent and deter crime. However, when the City and those charged with law enforcement attempt to shift the blame and responsibility to business owners for crimes that those business owners did not commit and are powerless to prevent, a line is crossed that simply makes no sense.
It is my understanding that the video in question, which neither I nor my client have seen, depicts an employee selling a lawful item, a pipe, to a customer. While some might find that to be unusual, the company that manages this hotel holds a permit to sell tobacco products. Although no permit is required to sell a pipe, it lacks credibility to infer that the seller of a lawful tobacco related item to a customer somehow committed or supported the committing of a crime at this property."
Watch Part II here.
