Final Member of Upstate Meth Ring Pleads Guilty in Federal Court

COLUMBIA, SC—Acting United States Attorney Kevin F. McDonald stated that Daniel Eugene “Jackson” Frost, age 48, of Starr, South Carolina, pled guilty to a federal indictment charging conspiracy to possess and distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. Frost’s co-conspirators in the case, Rusty Lee Pointer, age 32, and John Eric Pruitt, age 30, both of Townville, South Carolina, and Rodrigo Osorio Jamarillo, age 23, of Atlanta, pled guilty earlier this year. United States District Judge Henry F. Floyd accepted the pleas and will sentence the four men at a later date.

Frost, Pointer, Pruitt, and Jamarillo distributed meth in Oconee and Anderson Counties from 2003 until July 2009. Law enforcement began investigating the group early last year, making undercover purchases of meth from the group and gathering intelligence on its inner workings. Investigators identified Jamarillo as the source of supply for the conspiracy, traveling from Atlanta to bring multiple pounds of meth to Pointer’s Anderson County residence in exchange for large amounts of cash from Pointer, Pruitt, and Frost.

The investigation culminated in July 2009 with the execution of a federal search warrant at Pointer’s residence, where agents found more than 12 pounds of meth stashed in a barn. Frost fled the residence when agents arrived, leading officers on a high-speed car chase, throwing meth from the vehicle before wrecking it. The meth seized from Frost’s vehicle, as well as the amounts collected after being discarded from the chase, amounted to more than five pounds.

Investigators determined that Jamarillo had left the residence before the search, but was stopped later that evening in Commerce, Georgia, with more than $100,000 cash in his vehicle.

Mr. McDonald stated that all four defendants face a statutory mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, a maximum of life imprisonment, and a fine of $4,000,000.

The case was investigated by the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Lance Crick and Andy Moorman of the Greenville Office handled the case.