Henrico motel has record of incidents

Legacy Inn, where a man was shot, has had numerous police visits
BY BILL MCKELWAY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Friday, April 6, 2007



When Henrico County police arrived to investigate a slaying at a motel tucked away beside Williamsburg Road early Wednesday morning, the location must have had a certain familiarity.

A check of police records shows that The Legacy Inn, a 3.7-acre property with 124 units, has attracted their attention many times before.

Since April 1 last year, police logs show officers were summoned to the 5200 block of Airport Square Lane, where The Legacy is located, more than 80 times, for larcenies, assaults and disorderly conduct; vice, firearms and alcohol violations; trespassing; and multiple animal complaints.

Just blocks from the gleaming new facilities at Richmond International Airport, a centerpiece of eastern Henrico's renewal, The Legacy Inn occupies a distinctive spot in the minds of area police and among nearby motels with more familiar, nationally recognizable names.


"It is a continuing trouble spot for drug arrests and robberies, a whole potpourri of things," said Henrico Police Lt. Doug Perry. "There's a long history there."

According to a sign in the lobby, new management took over operation of the motel in March 2006. "No checks. No refunds," a sign proclaims.

Police say a late-night search for an available, inexpensive room by three members of a Shenandoah Valley family ended at The Legacy Inn after midnight Tuesday.

So did Gary Post Sr.'s life.

His two adult sons escaped harm during a lightning-quick robbery attempt that began as the three moved their bags into Room 131 at 12:37 a.m., Wednesday. Four young males carrying semi-automatic revolvers of blue steel accosted them, with one fatally shooting Post, 54, in the chest.

The Posts had planned to leave early in the morning for a wedding in Texas.

Instead, Post's family yesterday was making funeral arrangements back home in the tiny Shenandoah Valley town of Broadway where Gary and Mary Post sought refuge from the Northern Virginia suburbs, running a successful carpet and flooring business and raising three children.

Henrico police continued searching yesterday for four black males who fled in a car that a witness described as a late-model Pontiac that was silver or tan. The men were described as 19 to 25 years old, from 165 to 200 pounds and all just under 6 feet tall.

Efforts to crack down on illegal activities at Henrico motels have been sporadic.

A countywide sweep by Henrico police that targeted drug use in motels almost 10 years ago didn't reach The Legacy.

Perry was unable to say if the operation ever resulted in a permanent closure of a motel.

Efforts to obtain comment yesterday from anyone associated with The Legacy, assessed at $1.68 million, were unsuccessful.

Messages left at the motel for comment were not answered. A manager there, David E. Toney, declined to comment. Anil Patel, a principal in the business entity that owns the motel, Khushal LLC, did not respond last night to a message asking for comment that was left at his office in the Quality Inn at 12711 Old Stage Road in Chester.

The Legacy served as a haven for one the area's more-accomplished bank robbers. Stephen M. Duncan Jr., who was known as the Band-Aid Bandit and robbed 19 banks in 18 months, was arrested at The Legacy in July 2000 after a tip notified police of his whereabouts.

But The Legacy also was robbed in 1999 by a Henrico couple who were later sentenced to 20 years in prison.

For the Post family, Gary Post's death marks a terrible irony.

Almost 13 years ago, his father and mother died in a car crash.

"They were on the way to a family gathering, just like Gary," said a cousin.

The remains of Thomas R. Post Sr. and his wife, Elva, both decorated veterans, are beside each other at Arlington National Cemetery.

A spokesperson for the Grandle Funeral Home in Broadway said last night that there will be a memorial service for Gary Post Sr. on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Linville Creek Church of the Brethren in Broadway.

In addition to his wife, Post is survived by two sons, Gary Jr., 25 and Jacob, 24, and a daughter, Rebecca, 22. He also leaves three brothers and a sister.


Contact staff writer Bill McKelway at bmckelway@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6601.