United States v. Hutchinson

Denvers Alpine Rose Motel was something of a "drive-thru" crack market. Customers needed only to pull their cars into the parking lot to receive window-side service from one of the motels resident drug runners. A runner would take the customers order, proceed to different motel rooms occupied by crack dealers until he found sufficient quantities to fill the order, and then make the delivery. So-called enforcers helped keep the peace among the motels residents. Two leaders of the operation replenished the various dealers drug supply on a daily basis and mediated disputes. A peculiar sort of community spirit evolved, with a Mothers Day "crack scramble" and an Easter egg hunt with rocks of crack substituted for eggs. The business model proved highly successful-some 100 customers visited each day at the height of the motels crack dealing operation in the summer of 2004.