Permanent injunction order on Yellow House: ‘Everybody came there off the beach to get drugs’

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) – A judge officially filed a permanent injunction order that will keep an infamous Myrtle Beach boarding home shut down for a year.

Documents submitted on Thursday detail the evidence provided and the reason for the judge’s decision.

The order keeps the Yellow House owner, Joe Rideoutte Jr., from leasing, operating or using the home on 407 5th Avenue North.

Rideoutte has owned the Yellow House, which is now painted blue, for several years and has kept it as a boarding home.

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But documents reveal that during those years the home has become a haven for drugs, crime and prostitution.

The Yellow House first came on the 15th Circuit solicitor’s radar in December 2018, when the first request for a temporary injunction was filed.

Since that time, judges have issued four temporary injunctions against Rideoutte for maintaining the Yellow House as a nuisance.

Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson explained a temporary injunction works like a public emergency, and that a building needs to be shut down until an official court date can be scheduled and all parties can meet on the matter.

He said a permanent injunction means that all parties involved have gone through the hearings and enough evidence has been heard in order to prove that the building needs to be shut down for a year.

Rideoutte’s attorney, Bert Von Hermann, released this statement in response to the permanent injunction:

“My understanding is that the permanent injunction was granted and the relief sought by the State was granted. I have all the respect for the judge’s opinion and her rationale, however it’s my opinion that this place was and remains a targeted location as part of a Myrtle Beach revitalization plan hidden behind public safety.

There has recently been a significant jury verdict against Myrtle Beach for the Government Overreach that occurs. It’s law enforcement’s job to protect the citizens and enforce the laws not assist in a vision to develop Myrtle Beach.

The injunction has no practical impact on the quality of life for the citizens and it comes at a huge price. Perhaps the government should share with the citizens the amount of money they have expended in seeking injunctions and compare that amount to the help and services they have provided to the mentally ill individuals, the human trafficking, and treatment programs for the people that need it the most.

I would love to see Myrtle beach come back to the glory days of my youth, I have really no hope the government will ever allow that to occur because it doesn’t fit their agenda while the citizens pay the price tag.”

PERMANENT INJUNCTION ORDER

The newly filed order contains testimony from a Myrtle Beach police officer and a deposition from a former Yellow House resident, which provides evidence of the illegal activity inside the home.

Myrtle Beach police officer Steph Parran testified that from Jan. 2, 2018 to Feb. 6, 2019, there were five drug overdoses at the Yellow House and a child living there also tested positive for cocaine.

Documents show the house was closed from Feb. 7, 2019 to Feb. 6, 2020 due to a temporary injunction. It was reopened on Feb. 7, 2020 following the expiration of the temporary injunction.

Parran testified that from June 24, 2020 to July 28, 2020, there were four drug overdoses, where two people were revived and two people died at the Yellow House.

The officer also provided a breakdown of calls for service to the Yellow House and a neighboring property the Blossom Inn, from Jan. 2018 to Dec. 2018. During that time, the Yellow had 224 calls for service while the Blossom Inn only had five calls.

A deposition from Anthony Dale, a former Yellow House resident, was also provided. It was taken in March 2020.

He said he lived at the boarding house from June 2018 to Jan. 2019.

Dale provided information on illegal drugs being sold at the Yellow House and that people had to go through Rideoutte or a property manager named Reggie in order to sell drugs.

Dale said that Rideoutte would bring drugs to the home and Reggie would sell it for him.

“I’m telling you, the [Boarding House] was like – everybody came there off the beach to get drugs, man, and that’s what it was about, selling drugs and making money,” Dale said in his deposition.

He also said he witnessed prostitution at the home.

Below is the examination between attorney James Battle and Dale:

Q. Okay. Did you witness any prostitution at the [Boarding House]?

A. All the time.

Q. Okay. Tell me how that worked.

A. They would come in and want some drugs, and Reggie would be like, you know, if you ain’t got no money, you know what it is. So they would go up to a room or one of the rooms downstairs, the first room to the right. When you walk in the door there’s a little like hallway and then the first room to the right, that was the trick room, they called it.

Yellow House Permanent Injunction Order by Kristin on Scribd

MOST RECENT TROUBLES

The Yellow House’s most recent trouble with the law came in August 2023, when Myrtle Beach police were called for a shooting and stabbing.

When officers responded, they noticed the poor living conditions and called Myrtle Beach Code Enforcement to inspect it.

Code enforcement determined the house was unfit for people to live in and closed down the house.

Pictures from police body camera footage shows the living conditions in the backyard of the... — Pictures from police body camera footage shows the living conditions in the backyard of the Yellow House in Myrtle Beach(Source: State of SC Memo of Support)

But despite the closure, court documents show people were still living in the backyard in tents and makeshift shelters and that calls for service continued at the property.

Richardson filed yet another temporary injunction in September 2023 to get people off the property.

Through the latest temporary injunction, it was revealed that a woman delivered a stillborn child in the backyard of the Yellow House after the mother admitted to using heroin multiple times a day up to the birth.