News - Local/State

Saturday, Jul. 19, 2008

From fast life to life in prison?

Reputed Chester 'drug lord' faces lengthy jail term

CHESTER -- Troy Killian thought he'd die the night a drug deal went bad. Instead, he was robbed and walked away.

But it didn't stop him from hauling drugs.

He didn't stop when others broke into his home countless times in search of his drug stash. When a pal met a drug-related end. When friends went to prison.

He could make $700 every two or three days by trafficking drugs.

"The money," Killian said. "I was still living the fast life."

After two decades and multiple drug-related arrests, the 37-year-old whom Chester police call a drug lord is facing a lengthy prison sentence.

"I'm facing life 'cause I have two or more prior convictions," Killian said. "I'm too old for me even to be doing a life sentence. It's a scary thing."

On June 5, Killian pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine, said his attorney, Ken Mathews of Columbia.

The guilty plea stems from a May 31, 2007, undercover drug sting after which Killian was charged with trafficking cocaine, according to a report from the Chester County Sheriff's Office. Killian remains free on bond, Mathews said, and sentencing is expected within the next couple of months.

He could get 20 years. Or life in prison.

For now, Killian spends what could be his last free time with his five children. He readily admits: It didn't have to be that way.

"I know now it's better to go to work on a 40-hour work week," he said.

Killian is one of six men, arrested within the year, whom Chester authorities refer to as drug lords, said investigator Scott Thompson of the Chester County Sheriff's Office. One case, including Killian's case, is in federal court; four others are pending in state court.

Staring down death

Killian said he lived a fast life with easy money over the past two decades. He once made so much money dealing drugs that he didn't cash the paychecks from his assembly job.

He was robbed, stared down death and lost friends who were jailed or killed. None of it stopped him from hauling drugs.

In hindsight, he said, that lifestyle wasn't worth spending the rest of his life in jail.

Killian is an example of someone who makes a career of hauling drugs, police said.

"It was a personal lifestyle choice," Thompson said. "Killian made a bad decision. He comes from good parents, had an education and a job, but he chose to sell drugs.

"The whole situation is sad."

Early days

George Jake "Troy" Killian Jr. grew up with both parents working outside their Chester home.

He graduated in 1990 from Chester High School, he said, then went to work in construction -- moving out of his parents' home and into a Chester area known for drug activity.

But bad weather left Killian without work, he said, and he didn't know about unemployment benefits.

He needed money, so he took a trip with some friends.

"They drove me to Charlotte, and we got some drugs," he recalled. "We started selling in Chester and the Rock Hill area. It was a way of surviving."

When he got a job at a local pool hall, he stopped selling drugs -- but he was still around them.

When that pool hall closed, Killian landed a job at another nearby pool hall -- a move that forever changed his life.

"That's when I started selling drugs on my own," Killian said. "There was so much money out there to be made.

"I remember crack cocaine had just hit the scene. I had just met this guy in Charlotte, where I could take $20 and came back (to Chester) and make $100. When I first started out, I was making about $700 every two to three days."

His conscience didn't bother him, and a warning from a man who didn't deal drugs failed to grab Killian's attention.

"'You got to be crazy to be in this line of work and not be scared,'" the man told Killian. "I wasn't scared. It took me a long time."

Lengthy criminal record

The idea of a prison sentence didn't scare Killian, who said he has been arrested more than 10 times on drug-related charges for nearly 20 years.

Killian's criminal history, according to State Law Enforcement Division, reflects that: