A Fort Worth hotel and its management group have been sued after one of its employees allowed a stranger into the hotel room of two women, one of whom was allegedly sexually assaulted, the lawsuit says.
The two women filed a civil suit in Tarrant County District Court against the Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Worth and MCR Hotels, accusing the hospitality operators of negligence after they were attacked on March 26, 2024. The Dallas Morning News does not name sexual assault victims.
According to the 15-page legal filing, a Fairfield employee unlocked the door with a hotel master key, allowing the man to enter the room, where one of the women was sexually assaulted.
Police have not identified the suspect and he remains at large, according to police.
“As a result of the intrusion into Plaintiffs’ hotel room and the sexual assault of [the hotel guest] — which was facilitated by Hotel Defendants’ negligence — Plaintiffs have each suffered severe mental anguish, emotional distress, and psychological trauma," the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs seek monetary relief over $1,000,000.
MCR Hotels did not provide an immediate response for comment this week on the incident.
The lawsuit said the two women had just returned to their hotel in the 1000 block of Houston Street in Fort Worth after a night with friends when a man approached them in the hotel parking lot.
The man told the women he had been living on the streets and in nearby parking garages. One of the women had a brief discussion with him about his circumstances.
Later, after the women had returned to their room, the man can be seen in security footage approaching a clerk at the hotel’s front desk.
The women’s attorney, Anna Greenberg, told The News that the man told the employee his wife was “the redhead” and asked for their room number. The employee provided him with the information, and he walked up to their room.
One of the women inside was getting ready to shower when she heard banging on the door. She looked through the peephole, saw the man and did not answer, assuming the man would not be able to get in, the lawsuit says.
The man then returned to the front desk, asking for the room key. The employee walked up to the room with the man and unlocked the door, the lawsuit says. The filing includes a frame grab from security video of what it says is the employee unlocking the door to the room and a man standing next to them.
One of the women was in the bathroom and heard the door to the room unlock, the lawsuit says. She opened the bathroom door and saw the man in the room. She then quickly shut it, before opening it again and witnessing the man sexually assaulting her roommate.
She then ran out of the room and to the front desk, yelling and asking the employee why the stranger was in their room, the suit says.
“Without a word, a female front desk agent rushed up to the room,” the lawsuit says. “She returned shortly with the intruder, who yelled at [the hotel guest] and then ran out of the hotel.”
The lawsuit says when the guest asked why the employee allowed him access to her room, the employee said the man told her she was his wife. The guest then re-stated to the employee that she had no idea who he was.
Greenberg said the employee was terminated shortly after the incident but said Fairfield Inn and MCR Hotels have yet to express accountability or issue an apology for the incident.
Law enforcement was called shortly after the incident, but the assailant has not been apprehended or charged.
The lawsuit alleges the plaintiffs failed to determine the man was a registered guest or check his identification, notify the women someone was requesting a room key, have adequate safety measures and train and supervise employees, or create a safe environment for guests.
Greenberg shared her clients’ stories through the social media platform TikTok. Greenberg said she felt this was necessary to warn the public that this situation isn’t out of the ordinary.
“I think it really it is a matter of public safety,” Greenberg said. “We want to make sure that everyone is aware that this is going on at hotels, so that they can keep themselves safe, and so that we can honestly hold the hotel industry accountable for what’s happening here.”