GASTON, S.C. — Two brothers in Lexington County have been sentenced to 10 years each for their part in a drug trafficking enterprise that investigators suggest they ran out of their own homes.
According to the 11th Circuit Solicitor's Office, 34-year-old David Fredshun Tyrone Gates and 31-year-old Ladarien Quentaro Gates were both sentenced following their conviction for trafficking between four and 14 grams of heroin.
Trafficking the dangerous drug is considered a "violent and serious" offense in South Carolina, Solicitor Rick Hubbard said in a statement released on Saturday.
Their convictions trace back to March of 2021 when the Lexington County Sheriff's Department's Narcotics Enforcement Team investigated the suspected heroin distribution operation.
The investigation found that the Gates brothers "sold multiple quantities of heroin from their separate residences in the Gaston area of Lexington County."
A search warrant later uncovered items "consistent with narcotics trafficking" such as money, scales, jars, packaging materials, ammunition, and actual narcotics.
The drugs recovered in the warranted search also included "level amounts" of both heroin and fentanyl. Investigators also found $18,000 in a safe at one of the homes. Both of the Gates brothers had previous criminal convictions.
David Gates, according to the solicitor's office, had past convictions of battery, possession with intent to distribute cocaine base in proximity to a school, possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, and possession of marijuana.
Ladarien Gates had previously been convicted of driving under the influence, possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, possession of marijuana, possession of methamphetamine, and two counts of discharging a firearm into a dwelling.
