Source: Office of United States Attorneys
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jacquese Traveon Underwood, 40, of Rock Hill has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and a quantity of fentanyl. At the time of the conspiracy, Underwood was incarcerated in the Department of Corrections serving a sentence for drug trafficking.
During an investigation of Darryl Hemphill and others, agents learned that Underwood was responsible for arranging the purchase and distribution of narcotics he obtained from Hemphill, including cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl-based pills. The fentanyl-based pills Underwood obtained from Hemphill resembled that of an Oxycodone pill, also known in the generic form as Roxicodone. Hemphill and other members of his drug trafficking organization produced the pills, which were clandestinely manufactured with fentanyl at various locations around Rock Hill and Charlotte. As the leader of this organization, Hemphill was supplying the drugs to Underwood while he was incarcerated in the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Underwood used his drug trafficking knowledge to continue his drug trafficking business while inside the SCDC system. Agents identified Underwood from monitored telephone calls with Hemphill and statements from others. Agents learned that Underwood and others taught Hemphill the process to order, ship, and receive narcotics from Southern California. Underwood utilized associates outside the prison facility to obtain the drugs from Hemphill in Rock Hill. Underwood arranged the purchase and exchange of the drugs from Hemphill to other individuals.
While incarcerated, Underwood received at least 1,000 fentanyl-based pills, over 700 grams of methamphetamine, and approximately 312 grams of cocaine from Hemphill.
United States District Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Underwood to 121 months imprisonment, to be followed by a four-year term of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system.
This investigation and arrests are part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, and the South Carolina Department of Corrections. Assistant U.S. Attorney William K. Witherspoon is prosecuting the case.
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