Sumter Drug Traffickers Sentenced Over Two Days in Federal Court

Contact Person: JD Rowell (803) 929-3000

Columbia, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Shan Hill, age 36, of Sumter, SC; Tywon Blackwell, age 35, of Alcolu, SC; George “Tech” McDowell, age 45, of Sumter, SC; Shawn Green, age 38, of Sumter, SC; Quanta Lewis, age 23, of Sumter, SC; and Keenan McDowell-Gregg, age 22, of Sumter, SC;  were sentenced yesterday and today in federal court in Columbia for conspiracy to possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine and/or cocaine base in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 846. Chief United States District Judge Terry L. Wooten of Columbia sentenced the defendants to the following terms of imprisonment and supervised release:
• Shan Hill: 56 months imprisonment followed by 6 years supervised release;
• Tywon Blackwell: 192 months imprisonment followed by 4 years of supervised release;
• George “Tech” McDowell: 130 months imprisonment followed by 5 years supervised release;
• Shawn Green: 188 months imprisonment followed by 4 years supervised release;
• Quanta Lewis: 60 months imprisonment followed by 5 years supervised release; and
• Keenan McDowell-Gregg: 32 months imprisonment followed by 4 years of supervised release.

Evidence presented at each defendant’s guilty plea and sentencing hearing established that the defendants were members of a cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking conspiracy that was operating in Sumter from 2013 through the summer of 2015.  These six defendants were charged along with over fifty others in connection with the investigation into armed drug trafficking in Sumter.  The case was based largely on evidence obtained via court-authorized wiretaps that ran from late 2014 through the summer of 2015. Evidence presented at plea and sentencing hearings showed that the above defendants dealt in quantities that ranged from multi-kilograms of cocaine down to street-level crack sale quantities.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Sumter Police Department investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney JD Rowell of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.
         

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