Five counties, including Jasper, have aided in the indictment of several defendants in over 380 narcotics and related charges as a part of the “Devil in Disguise” narcotics trafficking investigation
In an ongoing statewide operation known as “Devil in Disguise,” Jasper County and Lexington County were two of five counties which have now aided in the indictment of several defendants in over 380 narcotics and related charges, according to S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson.
Wilson announced May 19 that additional South Carolina State Grand Jury indictments were unsealed in the narcotics trafficking investigation known as “Devil in Disguise.”
There have been 10 indictments which have been issued as of May 19 in five counties against 108 defendants on over 380 narcotics and related charges. The primary focus of the investigation, according to officials, is on fentanyl trafficking and associated overdoses.
The counties included in the newest indictments are Jasper, Lexington, Pickens, Anderson and Greenville, Wilson said.
“These new State Grand Jury indictments are the result of the hard work of law enforcement, prosecutors, and staff from many jurisdictions,” Wilson said. “We will continue to aggressively fight drug traffickers with every resource we have. Soon, we’ll also have a new tool to charge fentanyl traffickers if their drugs kill someone, thanks to the fentanyl-induced homicide bill just passed by the legislature, which we’ve been working to get for three years,” he added.
Wilson said during a May 19 press conference the counties mentioned were the ones that the attorney general’s office had been aware of that have had indictments, but it is becoming an issue seen throughout the state.
“It’s a statewide problem,” he said. “These are just the counties we know about, and the operation is ongoing.”
Wilson said the problem has now reached his own city of Lexington.
“This started as an upstate case with upstate counties and now it is in my home city of Lexington and now in the lowcountry with Jasper,” he said.
An investigation was put into motion in 2022 by the Greenville County Drug Enforcement Unit due to the high number of drug-related overdoses in Greenville County. The county, according to the Greenville Coroner’s Office, reported 278 drug-related overdose deaths that year, most were related to fentanyl trafficking.
The attorney general’s office said DEU then coordinated with resources from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Department of Homeland Security to aid in the investigation.
“A South Carolina State Grand Jury investigation marshalling these and other combined resources has been proceeding since August 2023, resulting in the indictments unsealed from January 2024 through today,” S.C. Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Robert Kittle said. “Under the South Carolina State Grand Jury, law enforcement and prosecutors have used traditional and advanced law enforcement techniques to move the investigations forward.”
To date, Kittle said the Devil in Disguise investigation, through controlled purchases and seizures, has recovered over 44 kilograms of cocaine, 4 kilograms of fentanyl, and 10 kilograms of methamphetamine, among other drugs.
The investigation, Kittle said, has also seized over $1,000,000 cash in alleged narcotics proceeds, as well as multiple firearms, including assault rifles. It has also revealed that members of the various conspiracies have historically moved more than 540 kilograms of fentanyl since January of 2020, along with historical trafficking of approximately 850 kilograms of cocaine and 500 kilograms of methamphetamine.
“Previously in this investigation, the State Grand Jury has indicted alleged fentanyl dealers for murder, accessory before the fact to murder, and conspiracy to commit murder for their alleged role in distributing fentanyl to victims who died from resulting overdoses,” Kittle said. “Other charges brought to date as a result of this investigation include trafficking in fentanyl, trafficking in methamphetamine, trafficking heroin, trafficking cocaine, money laundering, and illegal possession of a weapon, as well as possession, possession with intent to distribute, and distribution charges for the various narcotics involved.”
Attorney General Wilson and Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Creighton Waters thanked all the agencies for their dedicated efforts in the Devil in Disguise investigation.
Bond hearings for some of the newer defendants, Kittle said, occurred May 19 before the Honorable Heath P. Taylor at the Richland County Courthouse.
The case was investigated by numerous agencies, including 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, Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins’ Office, the United States Attorney’s Office, and the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Other agencies who assisted in the investigation included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives, the Greenville County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit, South Carolina National Guard Counterdrug Task Force, Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, Greenville County Coroner’s Office, Lexington County Sheriff’s Office, Pickens County Coroner’s Office, Easley Police Department, Pickens Police Department, Greenville Police Department, Travelers Rest Police Department, Greer Police Department, Mauldin Police Department, and the Fountain Inn Police Department.
The cases, Kittle said, will be prosecuted by State Grand Jury Section Chief Attorney S. Creighton Waters, as well as Assistant Attorney General Jennifer McKellar, Assistant Attorney General Jason Anders, and Assistant Attorney General Walt Whitmire.
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