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Former Metroplex owner alleges ethnic harassment in suit against local officials
YOUNGSTOWN
The former operators of the Metroplex Hotel and Conference Center in Liberty Township have filed a $12.5 million federal lawsuit against a host of Liberty and Girard officials.
The civil lawsuit alleges the officials, including police and fire officials, engaged in a campaign to harass the hotel and its manager, which caused the hotel to fail, and that the officials maliciously prosecuted the manager based on her Indian ethnicity.
The complaint was filed Monday by Aswin Ganapathy Hospitality Associates Inc. of Hubbard, and Indira Periysamy, hotel manager, now of Lancaster, Pa.
Defendants include Mayor James J. Melfi, Public Service Director Gerry Lambert, and Water Department Manager Laura Hart, all of Girard; Liberty Township Administrator Patrick Ungaro and township trustees Jodi Stoyak and Stanley Udell.
Aswin bought the hotel at 1620 Motor Inn Drive for $900,000 on Nov. 9, 2009, invested $1,825,000 to improve it, and operated it until a fire forced its closing March 4, 2014.
Among the allegations in the lawsuit are that the defendants:
Falsely accused Periysamy of stealing water in a Girard Municipal Court criminal case, which was dismissed.
Improperly shut off water to the hotel.
Made disparaging remarks to Periysamy about her ethnicity.
Failed to dispatch police to legitimate calls for assistance at the hotel.
Interfered with legal operations of a private poker club that rented space at the hotel.
Shut down a Dec. 31, 2012, party at the hotel, falsely accusing the establishment of not having a valid liquor license.
Demanded double the rates charged by other agencies for police to provide security.
Ungaro said he disagreed with the allegations in the lawsuit.
“I did everything I could humanly do to help her succeed,” he said, declining to comment further.
Ungaro said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit, but Periysamy had told him the complaint was forthcoming.
“It’s obviously a baseless lawsuit as it relates to discrimination,” Melfi said, adding that he has never met Periysamy.
Girard officials found and disabled a bypass of the city’s water meter at the hotel, then found the meter bypassed again when they returned a month later, the mayor said.
The city has a $52,639 lien on the hotel for unpaid water bills, he said.
The mayor said he hadn’t read or been served with the lawsuit.
The case is assigned to Youngstown-based U.S. District Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson.