The Justice Department announced Tuesday that 36 people have been charged in a multi-state Homeland Security Task Force investigation of a Mexico-based drug trafficking and money laundering organization that has operated in South Carolina since at least 2011. Nine of those charged are illegal aliens, the department said.
U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling said the investigation has an impact on every region of the state. Investigators said they identified a large fentanyl distribution network extending across the Lowcountry, Pee Dee, Grand Strand and Midlands. The organization has been supplying South Carolina with hundreds of kilograms of fentanyl and cocaine since at least 2021, according to the Justice Department, and the narcotics were transported from Mexico across the southern border.
A map presented at Tuesday's announcement listed 16 South Carolina counties as affected, including Sumter, Florence, Orangeburg and Berkeley, which border Clarendon County. Clarendon County was not among the counties listed. The Clarendon County Sheriff's Office was not named among the agencies that investigated the case.
During the investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized 346 kilograms of fentanyl, 23 kilograms of methamphetamine, 70 kilograms of cocaine, 34 pounds of marijuana, 43 firearms and more than $2.8 million. Agents also seized jewelry and 15 luxury vehicles, including two Rolls-Royces, a Lamborghini and an Aston Martin, and secured notice of lawsuits on 17 properties in South Carolina and Georgia with an estimated combined value of nearly $4 million.
An April indictment charged 18 people. A 42-count superseding indictment, unsealed in November, charged 16 more. Two people were previously charged in a third indictment in July 2025. Six defendants have pleaded guilty so far.
At the announcement, Michael Tooley, the DEA's assistant special agent in charge in South Carolina, said the organization has direct ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. The Justice Department said members of the organization are active in Mexico, South Carolina, other states, and within the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Stirling said penalties vary, with some defendants facing a maximum of five or 15 years in prison and some repeat offenders facing up to life. An indictment is an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
The case was investigated by the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI's Columbia Field Office, the State Law Enforcement Division, the South Carolina Department of Corrections, State Transport Police and numerous local agencies, including the Florence County Sheriff's Office and the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety.