8 Members of Aiken County Drug Conspiracy Plead Guilty in Federal Court

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Kristie Scott Wise, a/k/a “Kristie Wise Scott,” Brian William Rose, Casey Kohler, Ricardo Dunbar, James Clinton Gunter, Jr., Joseph Price Langford, Scott Dylan Green, and Kerrie Edgerley, all of Aiken County, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin.  United States District Judge J. Michelle Childs of Columbia accepted the guilty pleas and will impose sentence after she has received and reviewed presentence reports that will be prepared by the United States Probation Office.

Evidence presented to the court established that the Drug Enforcement Administration initiated an investigation into the narcotics distribution activities of co-defendants Kenneth Evans and Eddie Brockington.  Evans is an inmate in the South Carolina Department of Corrections and Brockington is an inmate in the Georgia Department of Corrections.  Through controlled purchases and other investigative techniques, agents learned that members of the conspiracy purchased and distributed large amounts of methamphetamine and/or heroin for Evans and Brockington. Some of the individuals charged were responsible for transporting multi-kilogram amounts of methamphetamine and heroin into South Carolina and then distributing the drugs throughout the state. 

The maximum penalty for these offenses is imprisonment for life and/or a fine of $20,000,000.

The case was investigated by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Aiken County Sheriff's Office.  Assistant United States Attorney William K. Witherspoon of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case.

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