Owner of accused drug, prostitution house in Myrtle Beach responds to lawsuit’s claims

The owner of a house county leaders called a nuisance says police and Myrtle Beach officials are unfairly targeting him.

This month, Joe Rideoutte Jr. answered a lawsuit filed by 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson on the county’s behalf. The suit is over a 5th Avenue North house in Myrtle Beach. While appearing a teal color, the house is commonly referred to as the “Yellow House.”

The original complaint described the house as a “nuisance” and seeks to prevent Rideoutte and others from using the property.

Myrtle Beach police responded to the home 213 times in 2018, according to agency data. The lawsuit makes several allegations with the house including:

• Myrtle Beach police and medical personnel have responded five times since May for drug overdoses. Nobody has died because emergency crews administered Narcan to counteract the drugs.
• Officers have responded to “multiple calls” for drug use and dealing at the house since the end of March. The calls ranged from people claiming to buy drugs to a child being taken from the home. That child later tested positive for cocaine.
• Police also had multiple reports of fights and assaults at the Yellow House, such as tenants threatening people with a razor and a hammer to someone hitting another with a bat.
• A nearby business also described Yellow House tenants leaving drug trash in a parking lot, seeing prostitution and had assault victims visit the business pleading for help.

Rideoutte, in his answer, denied the allegations. He also described the county efforts as an unlawful taking of his property, which violates the South Carolina and U.S. constitution.

The answer also states Rideoutte “is being improperly targeted by law enforcement and the City of Myrtle Beach.”

Rideoutte’s attorney Bert von Hermann said there were past issues with the property, but they have been cleaned up. Many of the current problems at the home are not from the residents, but people who come on to the property, Rideoutte said.

There are other hotels and properties that cause more problems, von Hermann said, but they are not being targeted as nuisances. He added police look for issues at the house instead of being proactive to stop crimes before they happen.

“It’s unfair,” von Hermann said. “It’s not a position law enforcement should have.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2019 at 12:27 PM.