Cedars Inn Motel manager arrested

The manager of the Cedars Inn motel in Liberty Lake was arrested last week on warrants involving charges of forgery, possession of a controlled substance, identity theft and money laundering. She was fired this week after the new owner of the property learned of her criminal history.

Jane V. Brislin, 45, was arrested April 9 by Liberty Lake police. The warrants were issued by Spokane County after Brislin failed to make payments on her fines from past convictions. She has an extensive criminal history in Spokane and Pend Oreille counties, mostly on charges having to do with drug possession and forging stolen checks, dating back to at least 1997.

Satpal Sohal, owner of Seattle-based JH Management, purchased the hotel earlier this year. Formerly known as the Days Inn, it was previously managed by Janus Hotels and Resorts based in Florida. Sohal said Brislin was one of only two employees he retained and he promoted her to manager. “I saw potential in them,” he said. “She’s been a great employee for the time I’ve know her.”

Sohal said he thought the management company had screened the employees. “I guess I assumed,” he said. “Normally for my managers I would do a drug test and a background check.”

Sohal was initially undecided about whether to fire Brislin. “I think everyone makes mistakes at some point,” he said. In the end, he decided to let her go. “I can’t put my customers through that kind of risk,” he said. “If I had known, there was no way I would have gone down that road. It’s a mistake that I will learn from.”

Brislin insists that the warrants were all a misunderstanding. In August of 2007 she promised to make payments on her fines relating to several convictions or report to jail. She said that the clerk had given her information on how much to pay on which case, but a case she thought was included was left out.

Court documents show that she made several payments on the account, but was 116 days delinquent by March. The warrants were issued in April 4 because of missing payments on two cases.

Brislin said she has turned her life around and hasn’t faced any new charges since her release from jail in 2006. “I have four years in recovery,” she said. “All my crimes were drug-induced. I was really heavy into methamphetamines.

“I am a really good person and have never given Pal or Janus Hotel a reason to believe I would get into those people’s files. It isn’t me today.”

Brislin said that Janus Hotels knew she had a criminal history, but not its extent. “I’ve never lied about my criminal background,” she said. “I’ve put it on all my applications.” However, when Brislin filled out an application for Sohal, she said that instead of marking the box indicating felony convictions she just wrote that she would discuss it during the interview, but an interview wasn’t held. “I don’t know why it didn’t stand out or catch his eye,” she said.

She had worked at the hotel for 10 months, Brislin said, working her way up from housekeeping to night auditor to accounts receivable and payroll.

She had cash and checks from the hotel when she was arrested, said Liberty Lake Police Chief Brian Asmus. “She had the deposit in the car with checks and everything,” he said.