Indictment Unsealed Charging 14 From Sumter in Midlands Cocaine Trafficking Conspiracy

Contact Person: Lance Crick (864) 282-2100

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that the Columbia Violent Gang Task Force (CVGTF), of which the City of Sumter is a member, arrested several defendants who are charged in an indictment with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine in the midlands of South Carolina. All defendants who were arrested this week will appear for bond hearings at the Matthew J. Perry Federal Courthouse in Columbia, South Carolina, tomorrow at 10:00 am before the Honorable Shiva V. Hodges, United States Magistrate Judge.

The arrests this week mark the next step in the CVGTF’s efforts to combat violent crime linked to drug trafficking in the Sumter and Columbia areas of South Carolina.

The investigation began in 2015 when FBI, DEA, and City of Sumter Task Force Officers targeted the cocaine sources of supply who were selling cocaine to the defendants referenced above. Agents and Task Force Officers previously conducted arrest operations in May 2016, October 2015, August 2015, and June 2015. To date, this investigation has resulted in the convictions of fifty defendants for drug trafficking conspiracy charges and/or money laundering offenses.

Multiple law enforcement agencies participated in this case, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Sumter City Police Department, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, and the Columbia Police Department.

This case represents another example of the collaboration between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in South Carolina. Assistant United States Attorney Ben Garner of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case.

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