A 25-year-old woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal conspiracy charges in connection with her role in a oxycodone distribution operation in Travelers Rest.
Ashley Marie Evans was sentenced in federal court in Greenville to 70 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, according to U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles' office.
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation on Evans and Leroy Roberts, who had already pleaded guilty in his role in the operation, but is awaiting sentencing. After receiving a Crime Stoppers tip that Evans and Roberts' trailer in Travelers Rest experienced traffic that appeared to be drug related, federal authorities partnered with local law enforcement in a joint investigation that led to a search warrant.
When the warrant was executed on May 25, 2010, deputies found weapons, cash, hydrocodone, marijuana, clonazepam, oxycodone and alprazolam inside the trailer.
Based on the results of the search and investigation, law enforcement learned that Evans and Roberts were selling as many as 2,000 prescription pain killer tablets per month to addicts in the upstate of South Carolina.
They operated this illegal business seven days a week and earned an estimated $226,000 from the sale of drugs, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The case was investigated by agents of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Assistant United States Attorney Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case.