OC Sheriff’s conducts Operation Avalanche

With the execution of four search warrants Thursday, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office began “Operation Avalanche” as a result of several months’ investigation into stemming the tide of methamphetamine being brought into Oconee County. “Over the past several months, agents from the Narcotics Unit of the Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into the distribution and trafficking of methamphetamine from the state of Georgia into South Carolina,” according to Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw. “As a result of the investigation, agents determined that over that time period, more than 2,000 pounds or 1 ton of methamphetamine made its way through Oconee County with destinations reaching other parts of the Upstate and the southeast. On Thursday, agents from the Narcotics Unit along with investigators from the Criminal Investigations Division, the PACE team, the SWAT team and the Uniform Patrol Division along with agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency executed four high risk search warrants at four separate locations to search for individuals that have active arrest warrants pertaining to “Operation Avalanche. Besides executing and serving the arrest and search warrants, officers were also searching for additional seizures of narcotics and cash as well as the recovery of stolen items and possible possession of firearms at the residences where the search warrants were executed.” “In over 25 years at the Sheriff’s Office with most of those as part of the Narcotics Unit, this is one of the biggest investigations into the sale and distribution of methamphetamine in Oconee County,” according to Captain Ken Washington of the Special Operations of the Sheriff’s Office. Search warrants were executed at addresses on Carradine Road, O’Henry Lane, Argo Road and Louie Lane in and around the Seneca area. Before the search warrants were executed, agents and deputies gathered at the Sheriff’s Office in Walhalla for a briefing and then went to assigned areas to form up and go to the addresses on the search warrants. The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office announces the following arrests of individuals in relation to the investigation. These arrests are as of midnight Thursday night. Some warrants obtained relate directly to the initial investigation while others were obtained as a result of the execution of the search warrants: Maurica Daine Justus of Westminster for possession of methamphetamine; Stephanie Deanna Clark of Walhalla for possession of methamphetamine; Travis Trent Lollis of Walhalla for possession of methamphetamine; Daniel Loyd Morrison of Seneca for possession of methamphetamine; Dustin Allen Cox of Walhalla for two counts of distribution of methamphetamine; Dustin Paul Thrasher of Westminster for possession of methamphetamine; Tabitha Ann Hammond of Seneca for conspiracy to traffic in methamphetamine, trafficking in methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime; John Floyd Richardson of Seneca for conspiracy to traffic in methamphetamine, Distribution of LSD and possession of methamphetamine. The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is continuing their investigation and further information will be forthcoming.