Heroin Trafficker Convicted in South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina – In a major blow to the heroin trade in the Charleston community, Kenneth Kennedy Shannon, 51, of Vance, South Carolina, has been convicted of heroin trafficking. The conviction came after a federal trial in Charleston, South Carolina.
According to Acting United States Attorney Beth Drake, the investigation into Shannon’s activities was the result of the work of the Charleston Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is comprised of federal agents and task force officers from local Charleston area agencies. ‘There is an effort underway to address heroin trafficking in the Charleston community,’ Ms. Drake said.
During the trial, evidence was presented that showed Shannon was a major source of heroin supply in the area. Investigators intercepted Shannon on a wiretap and learned that he was bringing a load of heroin down by train from New York on February 27, 2014. Shannon then proceeded to his stash house in Vance, South Carolina, where he stored the heroin.
The next day, Shannon, who was essentially a wholesaler, drove to meet with one of his retail distributors. However, he was intercepted by the DEA Task Force, working with the North Charleston Police Department, who made a traffic stop on the Chevrolet Tahoe in which he was riding. Shannon, the passenger, was being driven by a close relative who had his 8-month-old grandchild in a car seat in the back of the SUV.
After the driver got out of the vehicle to speak with police, Shannon jumped over the console into the driver’s seat and took off, leading police on a high-speed chase. The chase was called off as soon as police realized that there was a child in the car. While Shannon was fleeing from police, a citizen saw the driver of the Chevrolet Tahoe throw a baseball-sized bag out of the window near Tony Way and flagged down an alert North Charleston police officer involved in the chase.
Assistant United States Attorney Sean Kittrell said that although the bag was run over by another vehicle, the officer was able to recover approximately 2 grams of heroin. Shannon also threw another package out on the ramp at Montague Avenue, which was later recovered by DEA agents. The box held 500 bags containing, altogether, 9 grams of heroin.
The task force learned where Shannon was and arrested him in the Tahoe later that same afternoon. It had residue powder on the driver’s side door, which agents concluded came from throwing the baseball-sized bag of heroin out of the SUV. The task force immediately began to attempt to ascertain the child’s location, and once they learned the baby was safe, agents executed a search warrant for Shannon’s stash house in Vance, South Carolina.
Inside, agents recovered approximately 130 grams of heroin, a Krupp’s coffee grinder with heroin residue, two metal strainers, a digital scale, and a glass pestle – all used to chop up compressed blocks of heroin. They also found 12 small cardboard brown boxes, each holding about 600 unused individual ‘bindle’ bags, a green grocery bag with many more ‘bindle’ bags, two digital scales, a traffic citation issued to Kenneth Kennedy Shannon, and seven bars of Mannite ‘Cicogna,’ which is used as a cutting agent.
Kenneth Kennedy Shannon is facing a life sentence in federal prison after being convicted of heroin trafficking in Charleston federal court. The defendant was charged with conspiracy involving more than a kilogram of heroin. Assistant United States Attorney Sean Kittrell and Assistant United States Attorney Matt Austin of the Charleston office coordinated the investigation and prosecuted the case.
Contact Person: Sean Kittrell (843) 727-4381
Key Facts
- State: South Carolina
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime|Sex Crimes|Cybercrime|Public Corruption|Weapons|Human Trafficking|White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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