ELECTRONICALLY FILED - 2020 Feb 12 4:17 PM - HORRY - COMMON PLEAS - CASE#2019CP2608172

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
HORRY COUNTY CASE NO.: 2019-CP-26-08172

State of South Carolina on the relation of

Jimmy A. Richardson, II, Solicitor of the
Fifteenth Judicial Circuit,
ORDER FOR TEMPORARY
PETITIONER, INJUNCTION
vs.

Khaled Kassar d/b/a Rosen Sea Inn and Rosen

Sea, LLC,

RESPONDENTS.

This matter comes before the Court pursuant to a Notice of Motion and Motion for

Temporary Injunction of the above named Petitioner, seeking an Order of this Court temporarily

enjoining and restraining the above named Respondents from using, maintaining, and assisting in

the using or maintaining of a motel and adjacent green cottage called the Rosen Sea Inn located

at 2010 S. Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in Horry County (hereinafter “Rosen

Sea”) as a public or common nuisance in violation of S.C. Code §§ 15-43-10 to 130; and to

direct and command the Myrtle Beach Police Department (“MBPD”) or its designees summarily

to abate this public or common nuisance.

A hearing was held on Petitioner’s motion for a temporary injunction on February 3,

2020. Present at the hearing was Petitioner, through his attorney James R. Battle, and attorney

Russell Long, appearing on behalf of the Respondent. The Petitioner presented evidence to the

Court in the form of affidavits, police reports, and live testimony. Respondents’ attorney

presented an affidavit by Respondent Khaled Kassar.

After duly considering the evidence and arguments presented by the Petitioner and

Respondents, the Court finds that Petitioner has made a sufficient showing to obtain the

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temporary injunction against Respondents, and Respondents are hereby temporarily enjoined and

restrained from operating, using, maintaining, or assisting in the using and maintaining of the

Rosen Sea until such time as the matter may be heard fully by this Court on its merits. The place

known as the Rosen Sea must be closed and not be allowed to open until a merits hearing on this

case.

PETITIONER’S TEMPORARY INJUNCTION SHOWING

Petitioner presented evidence showing the Rosen Sea is located at 2010 S. Ocean

Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in Horry County. Petitioner presented a notebook as

evidence which contained, inter alia: (1) affidavits from former employees and tenants of the

Rosen Sea; (2) affidavits from residents and a security guard at the Bluewater Resort, which is

across the street from the Rosen Sea; (3) calls for service and case reports for criminal activity at

the Rosen Sea during the time Respondents have owned the motel; (4) a chart comparing calls

for service at the Rosen Sea to 7 other similarly situated motels; and (5) a second chart showing

the calls for service at the Rosen Sea starting a year prior to Respondents’ purchasing the

property. Petitioner also presented the testimony of Officer Steph Parran from the Myrtle Beach

Police Department’s Regulatory Unit.

I. Affidavits

Petitioner obtained affidavits from several individuals including people who had worked

maintenance at the Rosen Sea, sold illegal drugs at the Rosen Sea, purchased illegal drugs at the

Rosen Sea, been the victim of sexual assault by an employee of the Rosen Sea, and lost a loved

one to a drug overdose at the Rosen Sea. These individuals’ affidavits described the following:

1. Rosen Sea employees and/or management routinely rented rooms to drug dealers knowing that

they intended to use the rooms to engage in repeated acts of unlawful possession or sale of

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controlled substances including drugs such as cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, methamphetamine,

shrooms, and LSD.

2. Rosen Sea employees and/or management fronted illegal drugs to drug dealers and allowed

them to later pay for the illegal drugs at the front office.

3. Guests selling illegal drugs at the Rosen Sea paid an additional “tax” in order to rent the room

for the purpose of selling drugs.

4. Rosen Sea employees and/or management rented rooms to people knowing that they intended

to use the use the rooms for assignation.

5. Rosen Sea management accepted stolen property in exchange for rent.

6. Rosen Sea employees and/or management took drug users to drug dealers staying at the Rosen

Sea for the purpose of selling illegal drugs.

7. Rosen Sea employees and/or management who also stayed at the Rosen Sea used their rooms

for the purposes of selling illegal drugs and acts of prostitution.

8. The green cottage in the back of the main motel was heavily used for purposes of selling

illegal drugs.

9. People who overdosed on illegal drugs were carried off the Rosen Sea property by

management and dumped in adjacent properties in order to avoid drawing law enforcement’s

attention to the motel.

10. People have manufactured illegal drugs at the Rosen Sea such as cooking cocaine into crack.

11. When Rosen Sea employees and/or management are tired of a guest, they send them to the

Sea Banks Motel, which is also owned by Respondent Kassar.

II. Calls for Service

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Since Respondent purchased the Rosen Sea on May 4, 2018, there were a

disproportionate number of calls for service to the Rosen Sea. Petitioner presented two charts to

show this disproportion. The first chart showed the calls for service to the Rosen Sea and seven

other similarly situated motels from May 4, 2018 to December 8, 2019. The calls utilized were

consistent with nuisance behavior – disturbances to the peace, narcotics, and prostitution. The

other motels were located in the same area as the Rosen Sea and had similar room rates. The first

chart showed the following calls for service for nuisance related activity:

Rosen Sea – 106

Sea Banks – 120

Mystic Sea – 25

Ocean Park – 30

Ocean Plaza – 36

Sea Hawk – 5

Southern Breeze – 19

Viking – 52

Respondent’s motel, Rosen Sea, had more than twice the number of calls for service than

any other motel.

The second chart showed calls for service for nuisance related activity to the Rosen Sea

from May 4, 2017 to December 8, 2019. The purpose of this chart was to compare the calls for

service to the Rosen Sea a year prior to Respondents’ purchase of the motel (May 2017 to May

2018) to the time Respondents have owned the Rosen Sea (May 2018 to present).

Prior to Respondents’ purchase of the Rosen Sea, the motel averaged 2.2 calls for service

a month. After Respondents’ purchase of the Rosen Sea, the motel averaged 5.3 calls for service

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a month. This is a marked uptick in calls for service immediately following Respondents’

purchase of the Rosen Sea.

III. Bluewater Resort

Affidavits from residents and security guards at the Bluewater Resort, which is located

across the street from the Rosen Sea, reported witnessing drug sales and prostitution. Many of

these individuals reported feeling unsafe when walking past the Rosen Sea and the motel’s

negative impact on their quality of life.

IV. Officer Parran Testimony

Officer Parran from the MBPD’s Regulatory Unit testified that the motels used as a

comparison to the Rosen Sea were picked due to their similarity in location and room rate to the

Rosen Sea. She also testified about speaking with members of the community and their concern

over the Rosen Sea’s negative impact on the community.

Petitioner’s notebook contained a May 23, 2019 letter sent to Respondent Kassar in

which Officer Parran informed Respondent Kassar that the Rosen Sea was being looked at as a

possible nuisance and to contact the police as soon as possible.

V. Respondent Kassar’s Affidavit

Respondent Khaled Kassar’s affidavit described the criminal activity at the Rosen Sea

prior to his purchase of the property. He described the money he put into renovating the property,

and his attempts to evict problematic tenants. Respondent Kassar also stated that his staff

frequently called the police to report criminal activity and that he wanted to work with the police

to clean up the Rosen Sea.

Based on the affidavits, documents produced, and live testimony, Petitioner has shown to

the satisfaction of the Court that the Rosen Sea has been used for prostitution, repeated acts of

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unlawful possession or sale of controlled substances and a continuous breach of the peace and

therefore should be temporarily enjoined from operation until a hearing can be had on the merits.

LAW/ANALYSIS

The Court may grant a temporary injunction “upon the presentation of a petition therefor

alleging that the nuisance complained of exists, allow a temporary writ if injunction, without

bond, if the existence of such nuisance shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the court or

judge by evidence in the form of affidavits, depositions, oral testimony or otherwise…” S.C.

Code Ann. § 15-43-30.

The requirements for establishing a nuisance are the following:

A person who erects, establishes, continues, maintains, uses, owns,

occupies, leases, or releases any building…for the purposes of
lewdness, assignation, prostitution, repeated acts of unlawful
possession or sale of controlled substances, or continuous breach
of the peace in this State is guilty of a nuisance; and the building,
place, or the ground itself…are also declared a nuisance and shall
be enjoined and abated…

“continuous breach of the peace” means a pattern of repeated acts

or conduct which either (1) directly disturbs the public peace or (2)
disturbs the public peace by inciting or tending to incite violence.

S.C. Code Ann. § 15-43-10.

The existence of a public nuisance may be proven by the general reputation of the place.

S.C. Code Ann. § 15-43-40. It is not necessary that the public or common nuisance “be open to

public observation…so long as it would be offensive to public sensibilities if its presence in the

community were generally known.” 24 Am. Jur. 2d Disorderly Houses § 1.

Cases from this and other jurisdictions, as well as treatises and common law

compilations, have established what constitutes a public nuisance for purposes of this action. In

State v. Turner, 198 S.C. 487 (1942) (Turner I), in an appeal from a conviction for “maintaining

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a public nuisance, in the keeping, management and operation of a disorderly house,” the South

Carolina Supreme Court reasoned a place would be considered a public nuisance because it

“occurs in a public place, or where the public frequently congregate, or where members of the

public are likely to come within the range of its influence.” The Court held “whatever shocks the

public morals and sense of decency…[is] a public nuisance.” Id. (internal quotation omitted).

Even when a building or place of business is properly maintained for a legitimate

business purpose, the use of that building may still constitute a nuisance. See O’Cain v. O’Cain,

322 S.C. 551, 561, 473 S.E.2d 460, 466 (Ct. App. 1996). See also 24 Am. Jur. 2d Disorderly

Houses § 1 (stating a “disorderly house is one which is used habitually for any illegal or immoral

purpose” (emphasis added) (internal footnotes omitted)).

In determining whether a building or location is a public or common nuisance, “[r]esort

must always be had to sound common sense and due regard should be given to the notions of

comfort and convenience entertained by persons generally of ordinary tastes and

susceptibilities.” See O’Cain, at 561, 473 S.E.2d 460, 466.

The statutory abatement of such a public nuisance is the closing of the building or place

for 1 year. S.C. Code Ann. § 15-43-80.

In the present showing, Petitioner has shown to the satisfaction of the Court by evidence

in the form of affidavits, documentation, and live testimony that the Rosen Sea has been used for

lewdness, assignation, prostitution, repeated acts of unlawful possession or sale of controlled

substances and a continuous breach of the peace, and therefore, Petitioner is entitled to a

temporary injunction enjoining the operation of the Rosen Sea located at 2010 S. Ocean

Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in Horry County.

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NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, Petitioner’s requested relief is hereby

granted, and Petitioner is hereby granted an Order:

a) Temporarily enjoining and restraining the above named Respondent, and each of his

agents, servants, subordinates, and employees, from leasing to, operating, using, or

assisting in the using of the Rosen Sea located at 2010 S. Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle

Beach, South Carolina in Horry County.

b) On or near the time of this Order’s signing, the Myrtle Beach Police Department

(“MBPD”) will post notices of this Order on the premises of the Rosen Sea. The

MBPD may photograph the premises in order to document its current condition.

c) The MBPD are further ordered to secure the entire premises of the Rosen Sea by

barricades or whatever means the MBPD deems necessary, place police tape across

all doorways and entrances, and to close the same and take possession of all the

premises.

d) Under no circumstances will the Rosen Sea located at 2010 S. Ocean Boulevard,

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in Horry County be re-opened to the public for any

purpose until further order of this Court.

e) This Order shall expire on February 12, 2021 or the date of a final order in this

matter, whichever comes first.

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Horry Common Pleas

Case Caption: South Carolina State Of , plaintiff, et al VS Khaled Kassar ,

defendant, et al
Case Number: 2019CP2608172

Type: Order/Temporary Injunction

So Ordered

/s William A. McKinnon, #2761, Circuit Judge

Electronically signed on 2020-02-12 11:06:26 page 9 of 9