FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 25, 2000

CONTACT: SID GAULDEN, 803-896-8755

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina Department of Public Safety Director B. Boykin Rose today announced that the Highway Patrol seized two kilograms of cocaine, five grams of marijuana and nearly $5,000 in cash from a Wednesday morning traffic stop on I-20. The cocaine had an estimated street value of around $200,000.

A trooper from the HP ACE Team had stopped a 1993 Honda for a defective vehicle light on I-20 eastbound at the 44-mile marker in Lexington County. An ACE Team K-9 was called in to inspect the vehicle and the trooper found the drugs under the driver and passenger seats in plastic bags.

The car’s driver, Dedrick Lamont Thomas of Fayetteville, N.C., was travelling from Augusta, Ga., to Columbia. Thomas and passenger Willie James Fanning Jr. of Columbia, S.C., were both charged with trafficking cocaine and simple possession of marijuana.

Other major drug busts by the ACE team so far this year include:

• September: Made largest marijuana bust in its history, yielding more than 442 pounds of marijuana with a street value of about $1.1 million.

• August: Two back-to-back stops in Greenville County resulted in the seizure of a combined 437 pounds of marijuana.
• August: Seized nearly 100 pounds of methamphetamines with a street value of nearly $45 million.
• April: Seized 1,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $45 million.

The case has been adopted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

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