Myrtle Beach motel closed after it gave discount rooms for drugs, prostitution
An Ocean Boulevard motel in Myrtle Beach, known for drugs and prostitution, is temporarily closed after a decision from the Horry County court.
The court found that the volume of calls for service at the Coral Sands Motel related to drugs, drug use and overdoses was “alarming,” and that the evidence presented by the Myrtle Beach Police Department and the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office showed the property allowed for, “chronic illicit drug sales, use and overdoses to take place.”
Finally, in issuing the order, the court found that evidence presented “established the premise that this property is continually used for a haven for drug traffickers and users alike.” Now the motel will be closed for a year.
For years the Myrtle Beach motel was known for dirty rooms, cockroach colonies and two-star reviews. What some guests didn’t know was that hotel employees offered discounts to drug dealers and prostitutes, even designating rooms for the illegal activities if they got a piece of the action, authorities say.
Law enforcement sued to close the Coral Sands motel in June for at least a year, or until it cleans up its act.
An investigation, started in 2018 by Myrtle Beach police, found that for several years guests and employees of the Ocean Boulevard motel used and sold illegal drugs and engaged in prostitution inside, the lawsuit says.
Management and security for the motel purchased illegal drugs from tenants and provided discounts on rooms in exchange for drugs and sex acts, the lawsuit says. Management also accepted bribes in exchange for allowing people to sell drugs at the motel and had a room set aside for drug use and prostitution, the lawsuit says.
In a lawsuit filed in June in Horry County court, Solicitor Jimmy Richardson asks a judge to temporarily close the Coral Sands Motel, located at 301 N. Ocean Boulevard.
Court documents say the motel received a notice of public nuisance on June 7 and did not respond within the 10-day limit.
Since February 2018, Myrtle Beach police officers and city officials have met with the business owner, Harkishin Bhambhani, and its manager to address the motel’s “dilapidated condition and its high calls for service,” the lawsuit says. “Despite working with the owner and manager, the Coral Sands’ nuisance activity remained unabated.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 2:52 PM.
