23 people are in custody after a massive raid at two hotels in Brooklyn Center Wednesday.
250 law enforcement officers, including four SWAT teams, descended on the Travelodge and Super 8 hotels on James Circle.
Both locations have been under investigation since January of 2025 according to Police Chief Garett Flesland. 26 warrants were executed at the Super 8 and Travelodge hotels. Four additional warrants were serviced at two other hotels associated with the investigation.
"During that period, the Super 8 generated approximately 1,300 calls for service, the Travelodge approximately 975," Flesland explains. “This is not a response to one isolated incident. This operation is the culmination of approximately one year of focused investigative work into persistent and serious criminal activity associated with these two locations."
During that time, he said they arrested about 240 people for a number of violent crimes including sex trafficking, shootings, and weapons offenses.
"Protecting vulnerable people has been central to this effort," Flesland adds. "The investigation has included contacts with people believed to be victims of trafficking, including individuals who directly reported being trafficked."
Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt and dozens of her deputies and investigators were also part of the investigation.
"Today is about accountability," Witt said. "But it's also about helping people who have been victimized move forward."
She said anyone that may be in crisis, there is the Day One Hotline available 24/7.
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans also on hand, as were agents from the FBI.
"I want everybody to know across Minnesota that human sex trafficking is not a victimless crime," Evans explained. "It is something we all need to pay attention to each and every day.
Evans adds it doesn't stop there.
"But our bigger goal is to disrupt the criminal activity that's occurring here so we can continue to bring safety in all of our communities across Minnesota," Evans said.
Police data illustrates the disproportionate amount of public-safety activity associated specifically with the Super 8 and Travelodge hotels. From January 1, 2025, through August 27, 2026:
- The Super 8 generated approximately 1,300 calls for service and the Travelodge approximately 975, making them the two highest individual locations for calls for service in Brooklyn Center.
- The two properties accounted for 246 arrests and were the top two locations in the city for disturbance and quality-of-life calls and for trespassing arrests.
- The properties generated 53 violent-crime-related calls involving assaults, robberies, shootings or shots fired, sex crimes, and weapons, as well as 15 violent-crime arrests. The Super 8 was the highest individual location in Brooklyn Center for violent-crime arrests during the period analyzed.
- The data identified 32 people arrested multiple times at the Super 8 and 14 people arrested multiple times at the Travelodge.
- Police responded to 104 reported drug overdoses at the two hotels, representing approximately 24% of all reported drug overdoses in Brooklyn Center during the period analyzed.
Detectives came to believe through the long-term investigation that the repeated incidents at the properties could not be effectively addressed solely through individual calls for service, arrests, or room-by-room enforcement.
“These two properties have generated an extraordinary amount of police activity, but behind those numbers are real people who have been assaulted, exploited, addicted, trafficked, and placed at risk,” Flesland said. “Today's operation is about interrupting that cycle. And we couldn’t have done it without our partner agencies at the local, county, state, and federal level.”
The investigation and enforcement operation remains ongoing.
