PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA – The operator of a Dumfries hotel has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for turning an entire floor of the business into a drug and sex work market, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia says Kosha Sharma, 53, and her husband Tarun Sharma, 55, operated the Red Carpet Inn from May 2023 to January 2026 and turned the establishment into a known location for selling narcotics and doing commercial sex work.
The couple, who lived in an apartment in the hotel, directed illegal activity to the hotel's third floor and restricted who had access to the area, effectively creating a protected illegal marketplace. Prosecutors say the Sharmas charged more for third-floor rooms, with patrons understanding that they were paying a fee for access to the market, and that Kosha Sharma collected payment door-to-door on that floor daily. Police say multiple overdoses occurred at the hotel, including two fatal ones.
From March 2025 to January 2026, the FBI and Prince William County police conducted more than two dozen undercover controlled purchases of drugs and prostitution arrangements. Prosecutors say one of the co-defendants in the case, Margo Waldon Pierce, sold more than 280 grams of fentanyl to undercover officers.
Law enforcement raided the hotel in January 2026. Five people were ultimately charged as a result of the investigation.
Kosha Sharma pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and managing a drug-involved premises, charges that carried a maximum term of life in prison. She was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years and 10 months in prison.
Waldon pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and was sentenced on Sept. 10 to four years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office says.
Tarun Sharma pleaded guilty on June 3 to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and managing a drug-involved premises. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 6 and faces up to 40 years in prison.
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