Columbia, South Carolina --- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that the last of 15 South Carolina defendants with pending charges from the Aiken County investigation dubbed “Operation Gunsmoke” have pleaded guilty in federal court to offenses involving narcotics and firearms.

“Because of the excellent work of the ATF RAGE Unit in this case, over 150 guns have been taken away from criminals and off the streets of Aiken County,” said U.S. Attorney Lydon.  “Federal, state, and local law enforcement are working in lockstep to make our neighborhoods safer.  I am proud to stand with our partners in South Carolina and Georgia as we fight to take back our communities from dangerous individuals who mix violence and illegal drug distribution.”

The specific guilty pleas before United States District Judge J. Michelle Childs were as follows:

Christopher Johnson pleaded guilty to distribution of cocaine base and being a felon in possession of a firearm.  He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison.

Quinton White pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine and illegally dealing in firearms. White faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in federal prison.

Kevin Sheppard pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and two counts of carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.  Sheppard faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. 

Keith Williams pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine and   carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.  Williams faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. 

Larry Thomas pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine and   carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.  Thomas faces a minimum mandatory penalty of five years and a maximum of life in prison. 

Jerome Simmons pleaded guilty to felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking offense.  Simmons faces a minimum mandatory term of five years imprisonment and a maximum of life.

Reihn Jennings pleaded guilty to distribution of cocaine base and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking offense.  Jennings faces a minimum mandatory term of five years imprisonment and a maximum of life.

Ronnie Gartrell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine base and being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Gartrell faces a minimum mandatory term of five years imprisonment and a maximum of 50 years.

Heather Collins pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine base, cocaine, and methamphetamine.  Collins faces a minimum mandatory term of five years imprisonment and a maximum of 40 years.

Charlie Carter pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine and felon in possession of a firearm.  Carter faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years. 

Cornelius McKie pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, cocaine, and methamphetamine.  McKie faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

Rashad Lundy, Xavier Mathaney, Ray Baughman, and Benjamin Roper all pleaded guilty to felon in possession of firearms charges, and each faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

These guilty pleas are the result of the work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Regional Anti-Gang Enforcement (RAGE) Unit, a joint gang/violent crime task force with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, North Augusta Department of Public Safety, Aiken Department of Public Safety, Richmond County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and ATF.  Assistance was also provided by the United States Marshals Service, the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, and the Wheeling, West Virginia Police Department. 

Court testimony revealed that the case first started as a result of increasing violence in Aiken County. During the course of the investigation, over 150 guns were seized – most from the hands of felons.  Methamphetamine, cocaine, and crack cocaine were also seized during the case, including over 4 pounds of methamphetamine in one seizure. 

ATF Assistant Special in Charge Brian Mein stated, “The ATF Regional Anti-Gang Enforcement Unit (RAGE), was an idea that became a reality because law enforcement agencies realized we could better serve and protect our communities from violent criminals, firearm traffickers and drug traffickers by working together.  The guilty pleas and convictions of individuals associated with the investigation are a great testament to our collaborative efforts.  ATF will continue to support the RAGE Unit and offer any and all resources to ensure our communities stay safe.   I want to thank the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, North Augusta Department of Public Safety, Aiken Department of Public Safety, Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and our ATF Agents for dedication and their outstanding work in this investigation.”

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Assistant United States Attorneys Charlie Bourne of the Charleston office and Brook Andrews of the Columbia office are prosecuting the cases.

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Columbia, South Carolina -- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that arraignments have been scheduled for this afternoon in Columbia following the arrests yesterday in the Aiken-area pursuant to the multi-agency and jurisdictional “Operation Gunsmoke.”  United States Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett will preside.

WHEN:      Wednesday March 13, 2019, at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE:     Matthew J. Perry, Jr., Courthouse

                  Courtroom #7

                   901 Richland Street

                   Columbia, SC  29201

 

The following individuals will be making initial appearances for arraignment and bond purposes:

 

Heather Collins, 42, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, and multiple counts of Distribution of Methamphetamine and Crack Cocaine;

 

Cornelious F. McKie, 42, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, and Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine;

 

Reihn Dracon Jennings, a/k/a “Red,” 28, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, Distribution of Crack Cocaine, multiple counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime;

 

Christopher Johnson, a/k/a “Crip,”  32, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, Distribution of Crack Cocaine, and multiple counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;

 

Kevin D. Sheppard, a/k/a “Bean O”, 35, of Jackson, South Carolina, charged with  Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, multiple counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Jerome Morris Simmons, 38, of Aiken, charged with Distribution of Cocaine, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Keith Williams, 29, of Beech Island, South Carolina, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, Distribution of Methamphetamine, Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Charlie Edward Carter, 31, of Beech Island, charged with Distribution of Methamphetamine, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Ray Hampton Baughman, 48, of New Ellenton, South Carolina, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;

 

Xavier Mathaney, 26, of Aiken, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.

 

U.S. Attorney Lydon stated that all charges in the indictments are merely accusations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

 

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Aiken, South Carolina --- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that 26 individuals, many of them associates of a violent criminal street gang, have been indicted on drug and firearms charges after a series of investigations in South Carolina and Georgia.

The investigation and arrests were announced in a joint press conference held at the Aiken Department of Public Safety by the United States Attorney’s Offices for the District of South Carolina and the Southern District of Georgia.

The investigation was initiated by the Regional Anti-Gang Enforcement (RAGE) Task Force of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).  It began in 2017 as an investigation of a member of a criminal street gang who is alleged to have coordinated continued criminal activity while being held in the Aiken County Detention Center awaiting retrial for murder in a 2008 drug-related home invasion.

From 2017 to the present, ATF agents in South Carolina and Georgia identified multiple targets in the investigation, many of them linked by association with the street gang.  Nine defendants were named in three separate indictments by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Georgia, while 17 additional defendants have been indicted in the District of South Carolina.

“We will not stand by and let violent criminal enterprises continue victimizing our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Lydon.  “The U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina is locking arms with our law enforcement partners, and we will spare no resource to take back our neighborhoods from criminal actors who are mixing violence and illegal drug distribution.  I am proud to stand with our federal, state, and local partners, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Georgia, and I applaud their excellent work in these cases.”

“Our federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors continue our relentless and unwavering effort to identify, arrest and prosecute associates of violent criminal street gangs and remove them from our neighborhoods,” said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.  “City limits, county lines and state borders are no barrier to the professionals who fight tirelessly to eliminate drug-dealers and illegal firearms from our communities.”

The 17 defendants charged in South Carolina are:

 

Ronald Gartrell, a/k/a “RJ,” 33, of Aiken, South Carolina, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, multiple counts of Distribution of Crack Cocaine, and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;

 

Heather Collins, 42, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, and multiple counts of Distribution of Methamphetamine and Crack Cocaine;

 

Cornelious F. McKie, 42, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, and Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine;

 

Reihn Dracon Jennings, a/k/a “Red,” 28, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, Distribution of Crack Cocaine, multiple counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime;

 

Christopher Johnson, a/k/a “Crip,”  32, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, Distribution of Crack Cocaine, and multiple counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;

 

Quinton De’Shaun White, a/k/a “Q,” 29, of North Augusta, South Carolina, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, Distribution of Methamphetamine, and Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime;

 

Kevin D. Sheppard, a/k/a “Bean O”, 35, of Jackson, South Carolina, charged with  Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, multiple counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Using and Carrying a Firearm

During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Benjamin Roper, 42, of Aiken, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Jerome Morris Simmons, 38, of Aiken, charged with Distribution of Cocaine, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Dealing in Firearms without a   License;

 

Antonio Maurice Scrivens, a/k/a “Bucko,” 34, of Aiken, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Using and  Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Keith Williams, 29, of Beech Island, South Carolina, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, Distribution of Methamphetamine, Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Larry Thomas, 20, of Aiken, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, Distribution of Methamphetamine, Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to and In Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Charlie Edward Carter, 31, of Beech Island, charged with Distribution of Methamphetamine, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Dealing in Firearms without a License;

 

Rudolph Keith Scott, 27, of Beech Island, charged with Distribution of Methamphetamine;

 

Ray Hampton Baughman, 48, of New Ellenton, South Carolina, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;

 

Xavier Mathaney, 26, of Aiken, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon; and

 

Rashad Lundy, 27, of Aiken, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.

 

The defendants indicted in Georgia are:

George Edward Powell, 51, of Blythe, Georgia, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine and multiple counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon and Distribution of Methamphetamine;

 

Keldrick Demonta Streetman, 36, of Augusta, Georgia, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, Distribution of Cocaine, and Distribution of Methamphetamine;

 

Jermarce Antonio Smith, 32, of Augusta, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine and Distribution of Methamphetamine;

 

Brandon Jermal Jenkins, 29, of Augusta, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine and Distribution of Methamphetamine;

 

Carl Walker, 56, of Augusta, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, multiple counts of Distribution of Methamphetamine, and multiple counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;

 

Gwendolyn Johnson-Hill, 53, of Augusta, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine and Distribution of Methamphetamine;

 

John Willie Powell, 39, of Augusta, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine and multiple counts of Distribution of Methamphetamine;

 

Ziquane Sandford, 21, of Hephzibah, Georgia, charged with Conspiracy to Engage in the Business of Dealing in Firearms Without a License, False Statements in Acquisition of Firearms, Engaging in the Business of Dealing in Firearms Without a License, Possession of an Unregistered Short-Barreled Shotgun, and False Statements Concerning Information Kept by Firearms Dealer;

 

Jacquetta Yarbray, 23, of Hephzibah, charged with Conspiracy to Engage in the Business of Dealing in Firearms Without a License, False Statements in Acquisition of Firearms, and False Statements Concerning Information Kept by Firearms Dealer.

 

U.S. Attorney Lydon stated that all charges in the indictments are merely accusations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carlton R. Bourne in the District of South Carolina and Assistant United States Attorney Tara Lyons and Special Assistant United States Attorney Michael Marchman in the Southern District of Georgia. 

Led by ATF’s RAGE Unit, the law enforcement entities listed below participated in the investigation and the arrests today.  The ATF Regional Anti-Gang Enforcement (RAGE) Unit is a joint gang/violent crime task force with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, North Augusta Department of Public Safety, Aiken Department of Public Safety, Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

 

Participating law enforcement and prosecution agencies:

State of South Carolina:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) – Charlotte Field Division

Aiken County Sheriff’s Office

Aiken Department of Public Safety

North Augusta Department of Public Safety

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division

South Carolina Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole

 

State of Georgia:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) – Atlanta Field Division

Richmond County Sheriff’s Office

Burke County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office

Georgia Department of Community Supervision

United States Marshals Service (USMS)

Georgia State Patrol Aviation

 

State of West Virginia:

Wheeling Police Department

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) -  Wheeling WV Satellite Office

 

Federal and State Prosecuting Entities:

United States Attorney’s Offices – The District of South Carolina and The Southern District of Georgia

South Carolina Second Judicial Circuit – Solicitor Strom Thurmond, Jr.

Superior Court of Augusta Judicial Circuit – District Attorney Natalie Paine

 

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