Hartsville Man Sentenced to 95 Months in Prison on Federal Drug Charge

Contact Person: Lance Crick (864) 282-2105

Columbia, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake announced today that Tavares Lamore Wingate, age 33, of Hartsville, SC, was sentenced in federal court in Florence for conspiracy to possession with intent to distribute and distribution of a quantity of cocaine and a quantity of cocaine base in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1). United States District Judge Bruce H. Hendricks of Charleston sentenced Wingate to 95 months in federal prison.

Evidence presented at Wingate’s guilty plea hearing established that Wingate and others in the Florence County and Darlington County area were subjects in an ongoing drug distribution conspiracy investigation dating back to 2005 conducted by the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in cooperation with the Pee Dee Violent Crimes Task Force. As part of that investigation, in June 2015, agents arranged a controlled buy of a quantity of cocaine and a quantity of cocaine base from Wingate and a coconspirator.

The case was investigated by the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in cooperation with the Pee Dee Violent Crimes Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney Christopher D. Taylor of the Florence office prosecuted the case.

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