Rock Hill ‘career offender’ gets 25 years prison in SC, NC fentanyl drug scheme
A Rock Hill man who was part of a scheme to import drugs from California to both Carolinas has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, court documents show.
Archie Arsenio Caldwell, 33, was described as a “career offender” in federal court documents. Caldwell has four previous convictions in York County, including two felony drug distribution charges.
Caldwell, called “Nuk” and “Nuk Crook” in court documents, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Court Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis. Caldwell previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and marijuana, records show. He also pleaded guilty to distribution of crack cocaine and money laundering, according to federal court documents and prosecutors.
Caldwell was one of a ring of defendants from both Carolinas who brought drugs from California for distribution in Rock Hill, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, Greenville and Atlanta, federal prosecutors said in court documents and a news release.
The scheme involved more than 250 packages of drugs from California, prosecutors said. Drugs involved included more than five kilograms of cocaine, 280 grams or more of crack cocaine, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, 400 grams or more of fentanyl, 1 kilogram or more of heroin and more than 1,000 grams of marijuana, prosecutors said.
Caldwell was arrested in 2018 after an investigation by federal agents from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, DEA, York County drug unit, York County Sheriff’s Office and Rock Hill Police Department, records show.
Caldwell’s federal sentence includes 10 years supervised release after prison.
There is no parole in the federal court system.
Fentanyl and danger
The scheme included bringing in fentanyl to make pills that were distributed, court documents said.
The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday that North Carolina police said fentanyl laced drugs have caused an increased danger in the area.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid pain reliever that is 50-100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
In 2020, more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the largest number of drug-related deaths ever recorded in a year, according to the DEA.
Fentanyl, the synthetic opioid most commonly found in counterfeit pills, is a primary driver of the increase in overdose deaths, DEA officials have said in public service statements.
Defendant served prison time for drugs before
Court documents in the case filed by prosecutors show Caldwell was designated a “career offender” from previous convictions and faced up to life in prison for his convictions in federal court.
“Caldwell was determined to have two (2) serious drug felonies and as a result his mandatory minimum sentence on Count 1 is 25 years to life,” federal prosecutor William Witherspoon of the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in court documents. “In addition, because he has two (2) or more controlled substance offenses, he was determined to be a career offender.”
Caldwell was sentenced to seven years in a South Carolina prison in 2010 after he pleaded guilty to two felony drug charges, York County criminal court online records show.
He also has convictions from 2008 for assault and conspiracy, York County court records show.
