Myrtle Beach motel employees dumped overdose victims, allowed drug sales, officials claim
A Myrtle Beach motel accused of trading rooms for stolen goods and dumping overdose victims on other properties will soon close.
A judge recently ruled the Rosen Sea Inn, 2010 S. Ocean Blvd., will have to close as the state continues its nuisance lawsuit against the property.
Late last year, the state filed a request in Horry County court wanting to declare the Rosen Sea Inn a nuisance. The suit named owner Khaled Kassar as the defendant. The process is a civil one where officials seek a court order to close, and take, a property they deem trouble to the community.
On Friday, Myrtle Beach police announced the judge’s decision to grant a temporary injunction and force the closure. The motel will be closed through February 2021, or until the case is decided.
The judge’s order details several allegations of illegal behavior at the motel. The allegations were all included in affidavits filed with the court from ex-workers, drug dealers and a victim of a sexual assault by an employee. The allegations were:
- Rosen Sea Inn employees routinely rented room to drug dealers, knowing they were going to use the space push drugs. Dealers sold cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, LSD, mushrooms and methamphetamine from their rooms.
- Employees “fronted” illegal drugs to dealers and allowed them to pay later for the narcotics.
- Guests who sold drugs paid a “tax” in order to rent the room to facilitate deals.
- Rosen Sea Inn employees rented rooms to people knowing it would be used for prostitution.
- Management accepted stolen property in exchange for rent.
- Employees took drug users to drug dealers’ rooms for the purpose of buying narcotics.
- Rosen Sea Inn employees living at the motel used their rooms for prostitution and selling narcotics.
- A green cottage at the rear of the hotel was mainly used to sell drugs.
- Management carried people who overdosed off the Rosen Sea Inn property and “dumped” in nearby properties to avoid law enforcement attention at the motel.
- Some people manufactured drugs at the motel, such as cooking cocaine into crack.
- When Rosen Sea Inn employees grew tired of a guest, they would send them to Sea Banks Motel, which Kassar also owned.
Police also provided the data for how many times they went to the inn. Kassar bought the motel in May 2018 and between that date and December 2019, there were 106 calls at the Rosen Sea Motel.
There were 120 calls at the Sea Banks Inn. There were no more than 52 calls at other motels in the area that charge similar prices.
Kassar submitted a statement to the court and he noted he paid for renovations and his staff calls police to report illegal activity. He previously told The Sun News, “we really don’t know why we’re being targeted this way.”
Still, the judge found enough evidence that illegal activity happened at the motel and ordered its closure until the entire case is heard. If the state loses the case, the motel could reopen.
Myrtle Beach police Cpl. Thomas Vest said the allegations could become criminal cases if the department finds enough probable cause to make an arrest. He added some of the allegations are active cases with the department.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 2:53 PM.
