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'Prison Empire:' large drug trafficking ring busted in South Carolina

Attorney General Wilson says 'Prison Empire' operation the largest single narcotics conspiracy investigation ever indicted in SC courts

COLUMBIA, S.C. — 100 defendants. 297 counts. 487 charges. That is the total -- so far -- in the drug trafficking case South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has called "Prison Empire," one of the largest single narcotics conspiracy investigations ever indicted in the state's courts.

According to Wilson, so far the investigation has seized approximately 20 kilograms of methamphetamine, 5 kilos of heroin, and 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, as well as 82 firearms and has accounted for over 1000 kilograms of methamphetamine trafficked throughout the State of South Carolina.

The investigation -- carried out by multiple law enforcement agencies throughout the state -- alleges much of the drug trafficking was coordinated by current and former inmates using contraband cell phones. Much of the operation was focused in the Upstate counties of South Carolina and included drugs such as methamphetamine and heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana.

Along with the alleged drug trafficking charges were related firearms and weapons charges as well as burglary, kidnapping, and charges from an incident allegedly ordered from prison because of nonpayment of a drug debt.

The investigation revealed alleged gang involvement among the conspirators as well as Mexican sources of supply for the narcotics. At least two defendants who are currently SCDC inmates were allegedly found in possession of cell phones and methamphetamine when they were rounded up this week for their bond hearings in this case. One of the non-inmate defendants was a paralegal at a law firm, and this defendant allegedly used hollowed out documents in legal mail to smuggle methamphetamine into the prison system.

The case was investigated by the South Carolina State Grand Jury, which was assisted in this case by a partnership of the Attorney General’s State Grand Jury Division, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the South Carolina Department of Corrections’ Division of Police Services, the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, the Greenville County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office, the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office, the Easley Police Department, the Liberty Police Department, the Pickens Police Department, and the South Carolina Governor’s Counterdrug Task Force (a unit of the South Carolina National Guard).

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