AUGUSTA, GA – Seven people have been indicted on charges related to a major methamphetamine-trafficking organization blamed for at least one overdose death. As described in the newly unsealed indictment in USA v. Wheatley et. al, the investigation in Operation Wheat Fields dates back to early 2018 and includes allegations...

FLORENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA — A federal grand jury in Florence has returned an indictment in connection with drug-related charges against two former correctional officers with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC). Specifically, Joseph Corey Bailey, Jr., 29, and Xavier Kaseem Capers, 28, both of Ridgeland, were charged with conspiring...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A Warren County man has been indicted on charges including illegally possessing a machine gun and trafficking methamphetamine. Kevin Shawn McGahee, 47, of Stapleton, Ga, is charged in a newly unsealed indictment with Possession with Intent to Distribute Five or More Grams of Methamphetamine; Possession of a...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Four defendants are awaiting sentencing after admitting they participated in an operation that used pill presses to package and distribute illegal drugs. Albert Bynoe, a/k/a “Chino,” a/k/a “Bossman Chino,” 35, of Decatur, Ga., awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute, and...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced James Julius Lumpkin, of Sevierville, Tennessee, to 156 months in prison and five years of supervised release for drug trafficking, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. Attorney King is joined in...

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA — Keowsha Golden, 36, of Greenville, was sentenced to more than 1o years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. Evidence presented to the Court showed that Golden obtained prescription paper and then forged physician information to write prescriptions for 30 milligram oxycodone...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell handed down a 30-year sentence to the leader of a drug and money laundering organization operating across the Carolinas, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term imposed, U.S...

MACON, Ga. – Two co-defendants with criminal histories who attempted to out-run deputies during an evening high-speed motorcycle chase with nearly three kilograms of methamphetamine in their possession—resulting in injuries to three law enforcement officers—have been sentenced to federal prison for distribution. John Terrell Johnson, 34, of Jackson, Georgia, was...

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — Prisma Health Midlands (“Prisma”) has agreed to pay a record $1 million to resolve allegations that it committed recordkeeping and dispensing violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). These requirements are designed to prevent the diversion of controlled substances. This civil settlement includes a memorandum of...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A drug investigation led by the Western District’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) has resulted in the indictment of six members of a poly-drug trafficking organization (DTO), announced United States Attorney Dena J. King. Brian Mein, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau...