Nuisance law used to shut down Spring Lake sports bar

The day Errol Jarman became Spring Lake’s interim police chief in April, his officers told him that the most violent property in town was the Plush Sports Bar, a squat, black-and-gray box with tall tinted windows near the intersection of N.C. 210 and Bragg Boulevard.

Today, the property sits empty, a lock and thick chain barring its front entrance. The town, Cumberland County and the state all worked together on a lengthy legal process to shut down the bar using North Carolina’s nuisance law. 

In this instance, the law pertains to a breach of the peace, specifically, “repeated acts that disturb the public order, including, but not limited to, homicide, assault, affray, communicating threats, unlawful possession of dangerous or deadly weapons, and discharging firearms.”

Plush Sports Bar met all of those criteria, according to a brief filed in Cumberland County Superior Court. The brief sought a preliminary injunction against the owner of the property, Fadhl Alhobishi, and the two people who ran the bar, Terrance McNair and Lanika George. All three were unable to be reached for comment. 

Alhobishi owns Alhobishi Convenience Stores and Rentals Inc. McNair and George ran the bar under the name Heat in the Street LLC.

William Pittman, a visiting judge, granted the preliminary injunction Dec. 16 in Cumberland County Superior Court. The court will next decide whether to make the injunction permanent. If it does, Plush Sports Bar will be out of business forever. The bar has been closed since the court issued its first of two temporary restraining orders on Nov. 22.

A court brief requesting the preliminary injunction describes a modern-day wild west at the sports bar — one that regularly spilled over into the neighboring Food Mart Express’ parking lot. 

Among the findings contained in the brief:

• At least five shootings have been investigated at the property in the last year, including many involving validated gang members or people with gang affiliations. Many of the patrons carry guns. Defendant George’s son was shot multiple times when he, a former employee and two other people were robbed at gunpoint. The most recent shooting at the property occurred on Nov. 18. In most of the shootings, the people involved, the witnesses and the club employees were uncooperative. One shooting was ruled a homicide. 

• Shootings at the property have resulted in surrounding businesses being struck by gunfire. “The people who work at the businesses are lucky they have not been shot,” a detective was quoted in the brief as saying.
• Robberies or other criminal activity regularly take place in the bar’s parking lot. A former employee of Plush has seen assaults take place inside the property. On one occasion, she saw a patron strike another with a beer bottle. “Every weekend there are fights at the Property,” she told investigators.

The brief also outlines possession or sale of drugs at Plush, including two purchases of fentanyl in November by a confidential informant. 

The Spring Lake Police Department has received several complaints about drug sales taking place inside Plush. According to the brief, one patron told police that he saw about 40 people smoking marijuana on the back patio. Another witness said he had seen fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana being sold inside the bar. 

“All drugs sold at the Property begin at $20.00 and at least $1,500.00 in illegal drugs are sold each night at the Property,” the brief says. 

It also says Alhobishi, the owner of the property, and McNair and George — the two who operated the bar — were aware of the illegal activities. Alhobishi, who has a Fayetteville address, owns convenience stores in Cumberland County and elsewhere. 

“The Plaintiff’s action against the Defendants should not come as a surprise to the Defendants. Any defense by the Defendants that they were unaware of the nuisance activity at the Property is erroneous,” the document says. “Again, all Defendants were well aware of and had knowledge of exactly what has been going on at the Property, and they failed to take any action to stop the illegal and violent activity.”

Using the state’s nuisance law to close bars, motels or other establishments that threaten the public’s health and well-being is nothing new. So far this year, the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Agency, at the request and assistance from local officials, has used the law to help local officials shut down at least two bars in Greensboro and one each in Raleigh, Wilmington and Caswell and Columbus counties. 

According to the state Department of Public Instruction, Alcohol Law Enforcement has assisted with more than 15 nuisance-abatement investigations at establishments that hold ABC permits over the last three years. The department said the number of requests for assistance has doubled in the past three years.

“It would be speculative to say why; however, the use of this statute is very effective [at] either closing, or mandating perpetual restrictions on these ‘worst of the worst’ properties,” the department said in a statement.

Michael Porter, Spring Lake’s attorney, said the town, in conjunction with ALE, filed nuisance abatement action following a lengthy investigation into alleged criminal activity at Plush and numerous complaints from town residents. 

“The citizens of Spring Lake made it known to the police department, the board and the mayor that they believed this bar was a danger because of the violence occurring in the bar and the parking lot,” Porter said. “The pattern of criminal conduct occurring there, to include multiple shootings and a homicide, compelled the town administration to take action.”