YORK COUNTY, S.C. — The York County Sheriff’s Office held a news conference Monday morning to discuss a years-long investigation into a drug trafficking organization responsible for the manufacture and trafficking of fentanyl-based pills and powder.
During a news conference, Sheriff Kevin R. Tolson, pointing to a table full of fentanyl, stated it was enough to kill every person in York County and then some.
"Did you hear what I said?" Sheriff Tolson asked. "What sits before you is enough fentanyl to kill the entire population of York County."
Despite seizing large quantities of the deadly drug, Tolson there is no law in South Carolina for someone who is trafficking fentanyl. Tolson did not mince words – fentanyl is killing people at a rapid pace, and there is more of it on the streets than ever before.
Tolson said if the drugs in front of him were a bag full of terrorists or anthrax, our response would be overwhelming.
"Yet our response to the opioid and fentanyl crisis is underwhelming," Tolson said.
Tolson said with no law in South Carolina for trafficking fentanyl, the strongest legislation against fentanyl is intent to distribute it, which carries a maximum time of 15 years in jail.
Tolson and other leaders said that’s not enough to discourage drug dealers. They want a fentanyl trafficking law with a minimum sentence.
“We’re hampered because we can’t get laws that will hold people accountable," solicitor Kevin Brackett said. "We’ve been trying for years to get a fentanyl trafficking statue."
During the execution of one search warrant on Golden Pond Dr in Clover, investigators said they seized around 30,531 grams of fentanyl, 2869 grams of cocaine, 704 grams of methamphetamine, 454 grams of marijuana, four firearms and seven pill presses used to manufacture illegal pills.
While searching a home on Moss Lake Dr. in Clover, investigators seized around 81 grams of marijuana and 927 grams of Psilocybin mushrooms.
Parents of children who died from fentanyl joined Monday's news conference. Last year, the CDC reported more than 71,000 opioid deaths, mostly fentanyl, in South Carolina.
“In cases like my son, it was one pill," Patty Roberts who lost her son to Fentanyl, said. "There was enough in the pill that he took to kill four people."
Roberts said her son thought he was taking Xanax when, in fact, it was fentanyl. She now views death by Fentanyl as a homicide.
“This was my son, Cody, he was 25 and he passed away in August of 2020 from a single fentanyl pill," Holly Alsobrooks, who also lost her son to fentanyl, said. "It was one pill, one time."
Alsobrooks started an organization to support other mothers. She urges mothers to reach out to her at fentanylkillsu@gmail.com.
Authorities said key ingredients in fentanyl come from China and enter the US from the Southern border. Roberts said she wants authorities to do more to stop illegal drugs from entering the country.
Contact Indira Eskieva at ieskieva@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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