Ten Members of "24/7 Boyz" Plead Guilty to Federal Drug Conspiracy Charges
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justice.gov/usao-sc/pr/ten…
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justice.gov/usao-sc/pr/ten…
Leaders Face 10 Years to Life in Federal Prison for Distributing Heroin, Fentanyl, and Crack Cocaine
Florence, South Carolina --- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that 10 of 12 defendants who were indicted for their roles in a Myrtle Beach-area retail drug distribution organization have pled guilty to federal firearms and narcotics charges.
The evidence presented by Assistant United States Attorney Everett McMillian reflects that each of these defendants were participants in a Myrtle Beach-based drug distribution network known by the name “24/7 Boyz.”
The organization operated as a dispatch service, wherein drug customers placed telephone calls to a dispatch number and a dispatcher then directed the customer to a specific location in the Myrtle Beach area to purchase user quantities of crack cocaine and/or heroin.
A delivery driver would then meet the customer at the location, where the drug sale was completed. As the name implies, this organization made illegal drugs available to customers at any time and on any day of the week.
The organization operated for years in the Myrtle Beach area, beginning in or around June 2003 and continuing in various forms until the federal indictment was handed down in July 2018.
During the height of the investigation, officials used confidential sources to conduct more than 30 controlled purchases of illegal narcotics from the organization using the dispatch service described above.
The covert purchase operations resulted in the recovery of various quantities of illegal controlled substances from multiple locations and, toward the latter end of the investigation, fentanyl that was packaged and sold as heroin.
Several search warrants and traffic stops were also conducted on members of the organization, which resulted in the combined seizure of kilogram quantities of heroin and cocaine and significant quantities of other illegal drugs.
Additionally, nine firearms were seized from the group along with tens of thousands of dollars in suspected drug proceeds.
The investigation involved significant coordination between a number of local, state, and federal agencies, primarily including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Horry County Sheriff’s Office, Horry County Police Department, Myrtle Beach Police Department,
and South Carolina 15th Judicial Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit. The investigation was also supported by counter-drug intelligence analysts assigned to the South Carolina and Alabama National Guards.
The following defendants have pled guilty in federal court: Michael Alfonso Hatten; Joseph Luis White; Byron Allen Gidney; Ivan Kedric Chatman; Devinee Kathryn Boyle; Dominique Leconte House, Jr.; Domain Wilbert Johnson; Santhony Marzine Thigpen;
Eleanor Jane Carter; and Kristin Joan Milby. U.S. Attorney Lydon stated that Hatten was the leader of the organization, and he was assisted by mid-level participants White, Gidney, and Chatman.
For their roles in the conspiracy, each of these four lead defendants faces a possible sentence ranging from 10 years to life in federal custody. House, Johnson, Boyle, Thigpen, Carter, and Milby played lesser roles,
such as delivering drugs to retail customers and renting vehicles and storage locations for the organization. They potentially face up to 20 or 30 years in prison, depending on their prior criminal histories.
United States District Court Judge R. Bryan Harwell of Florence accepted the guilty pleas and will sentence the defendants after receiving and reviewing presentence reports prepared by the United States Probation Office.
This case was selected for federal prosecution in coordination with the 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office, which had pending state charges on many of the participants, as part of the joint federal, state,
and local Project CeaseFire initiative, which aggressively prosecutes firearm cases. Project CeaseFire is South Carolina’s implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.
PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.
As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Everett McMillian of the Florence office and Special Assistant United States Attorney David Caraker of the 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
