COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — A federal grand jury in Columbia returned a three-count indictment against Quonzy Hope, 33, Timario Gayton, 30, Javaris Johnson, 35, and Thomas Perry, 29, all of the York County area, for drug trafficking offenses. The indictment alleges that beginning in August 2022, the defendants engaged in...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Salvador Barrera, Jr., 27, and Ricardo Jonathan Gomez, 27, both of Charlotte, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge David C. Keesler today and pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of...

STATESBORO, GA: A newly unsealed federal indictment charges nearly three dozen defendants for their involvement in a drug trafficking conspiracy centered in south Georgia and reaching into the Caribbean. The primary conspiracy charge in USA v. Morales-Jimenez et. al, dubbed Operation Carpet Ride, carries a statutory minimum penalty of 10...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that Santuron Cureton, 40, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and four years of supervised release for illegal gun possession and drug offenses. According to filed documents and court proceedings, between April and July...

AUGUSTA, GA: An Atlanta-area man has been sentenced to federal prison after admitting his role in a major drug trafficking conspiracy that funneled cocaine and other drugs through Atlanta to the Waynesboro, Ga., area. Chadric Antonio Rhaney, a/k/a “Chad,” 42, of Powder Springs, Ga., was sentenced to 88 months in...

FLORENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA — Kimo Takarra Felton, 42, of Conway, was sentenced this week to more than 11 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a member of a 35-member conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. Evidence presented at the sentencing...

COLUMBIA, S.C.— Norris L. Bond, 42, of Columbia, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and possessing a firearm during and in relation to drug trafficking. Evidence presented to the court...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jose Velasquez, 38, of Mexico, was sentenced yesterday to 151 months in prison and five years of supervised release for drug trafficking, money laundering, and illegal reentry, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge...

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Darryl Hemphill, 34, of Rock Hill, pled guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Rock Hill Police Department began to investigate a group of defendants who were...

MACON, GA - Thirteen defendants have been sentenced to terms of up to 15 years in prison after an extensive operation that targeted a middle Georgia drug trafficking conspiracy. Eight men and four women were indicted in February 2021 under Operation Breaking the Bond, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task...