North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By Ruben Lowman
The town of Atlantic Beach is finalizing preparations to host its annual Memorial Day Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival, set to run from Friday, May 22, through Monday, May 25.
Celebrating over 40 years of tradition, the rally is expected to draw thousands of motorcyclists and spectators to the Grand Strand once again, with high-density crowds arriving early in the week and lingering past the holiday.
While official festival operations, including live music stages, vendors and cultural exhibits, remain centralized on Atlantic Street from Highway 17 South to Ocean Boulevard, the massive holiday footprint will heavily bleed into neighboring municipalities.
Heavy traffic and spectator crowds are projected to pack Ocean Boulevard in the Crescent Beach section of North Myrtle Beach, while the Myrtle Beach Mall parking lot near Barefoot Landing will once again serve as a massive congregation hub for festivalgoers.
As town administrators coordinate the logistics for the incoming influx of visitors, the criminal case against former Atlantic Beach Police Chief Quentin Robinson, who led the town’s department from 2017 until his abrupt removal in 2024, has formally concluded in the Horry County court system.
Court records show that Judge William Nathan Hutson signed off on a nolle prosequi disposition, officially dropping the first-offense misdemeanor prostitution charge against Robinson.
The former chief was originally swept up alongside nine other individuals during an April 2024 multi-agency online prostitution sting conducted by the Horry County Police Department at a hotel on 21st Avenue North in Myrtle Beach, where authorities alleged he agreed to exchange $120 with an undercover agent for sexual favors.
While state prosecutors elected to drop the criminal proceedings against Robinson, the legal resolution does not mean a return to local command. The South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy confirmed that Robinson remains entirely unemployed in law enforcement and is structurally ineligible for police employment anywhere in the state.
To regain his credentials, Robinson must file for and win a contested case hearing before his three-year statutory window expires in 2027. In sharp contrast to Robinson’s dismissed status, several co-defendants swept up in the same 2024 hotel sting have faced direct judicial penalties, with Brandon French and Jaime Cordero-Carrillo both pleading guilty to jail-time sentences, while another individual, Bradley Divis, entered a plea of nolo contendere and was fined $250.
