PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The administrator of the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles said he had no idea that a sex business was allegedly operating in a building he owns.

Cranston police raided the building owned by Walter “Bud” Craddock through his real estate holdings company following a months-long investigation into six properties where investigators suspect prostitution was taking police, according to a police affidavit.

Craddock told WPRI-TV that he knew there was a business but didn’t know about any illegal activities.

“I personally had never gotten any complaints, otherwise this would have been rectified a long time ago,” Craddock said. “If I was aware of the things that were alleged to be going on there, the lease would have been terminated.”

The 3,200 square-foot property is one of several owned by Craddock’s LUC Realty, and was subject of a raid in 2017 “for the same activity, prostitution and massage without a license,” Cranston Police Chief Col. Michael Winquist told WPRI in an email.

All six massage businesses that were raided were shut down, 11 people were arrested and police are investigating whether women were working against their will, Winquist said.

The police department will be working with property owners to evict tenants who use property for criminal activity, he said.

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