Inn pillaged of $95,000 in property

Chris Moore / The Item The America's Inn motel, off Myrtle Beach Highway, was closed for renovations when someone broke in and stole thousands of dollars' worth of property between May 13 and Thursday.

By JOE PERRY
Item Staff Writer
jperry@theitem.com

A Myrtle Beach Highway motel was cleaned out — but not in a good way.

Fifty air conditioner units valued at $50,000, 94 TVs valued at $10,000, 45 electronic locks valued at $15,000, a commercial washing machine valued at $10,000 and a satellite system valued at $10,000 were reportedly stolen between May 13 and Thursday from the America's Inn at 7840 Myrtle Beach Highway, a report said.

On Friday, signs of the pillage were evident throughout the 104-room complex as warm, lockless rooms were held shut by coat hangers, their interiors missing the air conditioners and TVs.

A gaping rectangle was cut into numerous green metal doors, where the locks and doorknobs used to be, and signs hanging to and fro — some handwritten, some printed out by computer — stated: "Under maintenance sorry for inconvenience."

Trash cans long past the point of needing to be emptied stood in quiet corners, and the pool cover was itself covered with several inches of recent rainfall.

Chris Moore / The Item Air-conditioning units, televisions and electronic door locks from rooms at the inn were stolen.

A small, empty conference room still had an overhead projector on a table before a dozen or so wooden chairs, and random chairs were scattered in a hallway, next to a rusty wheelbarrow holding some forgotten cleaning supplies.

The sign at the front office let people know the shuttering was due to renovations.

"I'll get it open," said Charlie Stovall, on Friday at the motel. "We'll get the air conditioners back in — we'll open it back up."

Stovall, 64, works for Suwannee, Ga.-based IPD Hospitality and explained the property was in foreclosure.

Chris Moore / The Item

His job was to once again make the property physically appealing — enhance its curb appeal, essentially — for any potential buyer who might be interested.

Stovall said when he arrived on Monday at the property — right next to Interstate 95 west of Turbeville — numerous rooms had been stripped and the locks removed.

"It was gone when I got here. Once I got here, nobody got nothing," he said, shaking his head while smoking a Salem and standing outside the air-conditioned room in which he was staying. "It's not unusual."

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis said the situation is a civil matter, as the property is in foreclosure.

The air conditioners, which were mounted to the inside wall of the rooms under the front window, just slide right out, Stovall said, making their removal pretty easy. The TVs were not bolted to the tables, which is now a common practice.

"As far as the bank's concerned, that's (all the stolen property) collateral," he said, fishing another cigarette out of his pack. "As far as who took it, I can't tell you. I can't say who did what. All I know is, it's gone."



Contact Staff Writer Joe Perry at jperry@theitem.com or (803) 774-1272.