After multiple drug busts and a shooting, a Horry County court has ordered that the Ocean Apartments in Atlantic Beach be closed for one year as a public nuisance, according to court documents.
Court documents say that since May of 2018 the Ocean Apartments has “housed and facilitated the sale of illegal drugs.” Officers with Horry County Police and the DEA began their investigation in the fall of that year.
Using Confidential Informants, officers were able to purchase crack cocaine from multiple residents. In total officers purchased crack cocaine 25 times from 10 different people living in the apartments.
In November of 2018 officers executed search warrants for four of the rooms. Officers recovered 2.6 pounds of marijuana, 50 grams of crack cocaine, 18 grams of cocaine, 20 hydrocodone pills, and 3 handguns, one of which was stolen.
Further investigation led officers to discover that there was drug dealing in almost every room at the apartments and that all the drug dealing tenants are members of the Bloods street gang. One tenant, Tyler Harris a.k.a “Ty” cooked all the crack cocaine for the other dealers.
The apartment complex is managed by Rodger L. Gamble who, according to court documents, lived on the property and allows other residents to use the location for their drug dealing.
In January 2018 Anadei Keel shot Joel M. Ramos in the head on the second level of the Ocean Apartments, court documents say. Officers believe the shooting involved a dispute over drugs. Ramos’ brother Giovanni Ramos moved into his brother’s apartment and was arrested for selling crack cocaine in that November.
In April and May of 2019 officers were again able to buy crack cocaine from tenants at the apartments.
In a court order the Ocean apartments are to be closed for one year, all tenants and residents must vacate the facility, except for a security guard.
Horry County police will secure the location and place police tape over all the apartment rooms.
