8 charged in multi-county investigation

EASLEY — A yearlong investigation into Upstate synthetic drug sales that began in Easley culminated with the seizure of approximately $2.7 million in cash and frozen bank accounts, guns, vehicles, more than 300 pounds of the drug and seven arrests last week.

A yearlong investigation into synthetic drug sales that began at Sky’s Tha Limit in Easley wrapped up with a multi-county bust that targeted several businesses and two homes and resulted in charges filed against eight people last week. Sky’s Tha Limit’s business license has been suspended, Easley Police Chief Danny Traber said.

At a Friday afternoon news conference at the Easley Law Enforcement Center, Easley Police Chief Danny Traber told reporters his department began receiving complaints just more than a year ago from parents that their children, some as young as 16 years old, were going to a store on U.S. Highway 123 to buy the synthetic drugs.

“People like to call it synthetic marijuana, (but) it’s a synthetic drug that sometimes mimics marijuana,” Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark said. “Sometimes it’s a lot worse.”

Clark said some of the side effects of similar “designer” drugs include hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety, a sense of initial wellbeing that turns into terror, panic attacks, vomiting and agitation.

“A mother had two sons that went and got some of this junk, this trash, and one of them went unconscious and one of them stayed in a coma for almost two days,” Clark said. “That’s why we’re here today, because of those two kids and things that happen like that to mostly young people across the nation.

According to 13th Circuit Solicit Walt Wilkins, the leafy base of the drug is actually a legal potpourri or tea grown in Indiana, but a chemical imported from China and added to the substance is classified as a Schedule I drug.

Although the early stages of the investigation involved only the Easley Police Department, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) making undercover buys and surveillance, the scope of the investigation widened as officers discovered the family that owned the Easley store owned and operated stores in four counties.

Traber said Easley police were joined in the investigation by sheriff’s deputies from Pickens, Anderson, Oconee and Greenville counties, DEA agents, Clemson, Seneca, Anderson and Greenville police and the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

Last Thursday, officers executed simultaneous search warrants on several businesses and two homes. Investigators also searched a used car lot in Easley and a warehouse in Powdersville.

Arrested during the sweep were 32-year-old Carrie Pilgrim Barbrey, 27-year-old James Kyle Barbrey, 35-year-old Sabrina Dawn Jenkins, 60-year-old James Tony Pilgrim, 58-year-old Wendy Lee Pilgrim and 37-year-old John Thomas Stanfield, all of Easley. In addition, Brandi Leigh Childress, 37, of Liberty, was arrested, and authorities were seeking Charles David “Chuck” Greer of Greenville.

Wilkins said charges for those arrested would include possession and distribution of a schedule I drug. Greer is also accused of importing the illegal chemical from China and distributing the packages to the stores. All those charged will face conspiracy charges as well, Wilkins said.

The stores involved in Thursday’s searches included Sky’s Tha Limit in Easley, Amnesiac in Anderson, Purple Haze locations in Clemson and Seneca and Randy’s Smoke-N-Holes in Anderson. Wilkins said there were additional arrests made for purchasing the synthetic drugs during the investigation.

According to Clark, the sweep netted approximately $1.45 million from a safe in the Pilgrims’ home — the largest chunk of more than $2 million in total cash seized — as well as more than $500,000 in bank accounts that are frozen and subject to seizure. In addition, Clark said 15 vehicles were seized in Pickens County, while Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper said an additional 10 vehicles and trailers were seized in his county.

Wilkins said more than 10 pounds of the chemical used to make the synthetic drug was seized from Greer’s home in Greenville, along with about $500,000 in cash from a safe.

Guns were also seized during the searches, including a possibly illegal sawed-off shotgun taken from one of the stores, Wilkins said.

Wilkins lauded the efforts of all the agencies involved in the investigation.

“This is such a classic example of law enforcement working across human-made jurisdictional lines,” he said, standing at a podium in front of representatives from each agency. “From the federal lines to the county lines to the city lines, this whole crew right here, everybody standing behind me, came together for one solid purpose, and it was this investigation that started here in Easley.”

Wilkins also said he believed the results of the investigation will send a message to others.

“This stuff is dangerous to anybody who ingests it,” he said. “Obviously, the folks that sell it don’t care about that, but we do. We’re going to use every tool in our arsenal to continue the fight against the distribution of this synthetic drug.”

As the news conference came to a close, Easley mayor Larry Bagwell, who said he had personally received many complaints about synthetic drug sales in his city, also thanked each of the agencies involved.

“I am so happy that this has come to a head, because now my phone won’t ring quite as often,” he said. “The cooperation that I see here is outstanding, and I think it speaks well for everyone involved.”

Traber said Sky’s Tha Limit’s business license had been suspended pending the results of a hearing.