Leader and Other Members of Multi-State Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced in Federal Court

Columbia, South Carolina --- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Joshua Peace, age 30, mother of Joshua Peace, Susan Peace, age 63, Brian Harper, age 34, and Regina Kinard, age 42, were sentenced in federal court.  Joshua Peace, Kinard, and Harper pled guilty to participating in a drug conspiracy involving more than 500 grams of methamphetamine, and received sentences of 15 years imprisonment, 12 years imprisonment, and 11 years imprisonment respectively.  Susan Peace pled guilty to using a telephone to facilitate a drug trafficking crime, and she received a sentence of 5 years’ probation with electronic monitoring and a curfew.

Assistant United States Attorney Andy Moorman told the Court during the sentencing hearings that Joshua Peace, with the help of his mother, Susan Peace, Kinard, Harper, and others facilitated the distribution of approximately $1.2 million in methamphetamine in the Upstate of South Carolina and elsewhere.  Peace would send couriers to meet with sources of supply for methamphetamine in Northern Georgia. These couriers would purchase kilogram quantities of methamphetamine and return to the Upstate of South Carolina, typically Anderson, South Carolina.  Once there, the methamphetamine would be dispersed among local distributors, who would sell the methamphetamine and return the proceeds to Josh Peace.  During the course of the investigation and prosecution, federal agents and local law enforcement seized in excess of $600,000 in U.S. Currency, seven automobiles, and other property that conspirators bought with drug proceeds.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, the Anderson Police Department, and the Franklin County (GA) Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

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