Rock Hill man already guilty in Lake Wylie-area fentanyl bust pleads to jail drug scheme
A convicted Rock Hill drug dealer now faces a potential second life sentence after admitting to continuing a drug scheme while in a South Carolina jail, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Timothy Markee Gayton, 32, can be sentenced from 10 years to life in federal prison for two separate guilty pleas involving fentanyl, according to prosecutors and records.
Sentencing for Gayton for drug conspiracy in a October 2022 fentanyl bust near Lake Wylie had been set for Wednesday in federal court in Columbia. It was postponed because Gayton pleaded guilty in November to aiding and abetting the distribution of 400 grams of fentanyl while he was jailed, according to prosecutors and documents in the two cases.
Police initially arrested Gayton in February 2023 following the October 2022 seizure of more than 60 pounds of fentanyl from a York County mobile home used as a secret drug lab. He remained in jail near Columbia, officials said.
Gayton used a telephone in November and December 2023 from the Lexington County jail to work drug deals, court records show.
He pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy in March of this year from the fentanyl seizure case.
Prosecutors and Gayton’s lawyer have asked federal judge Sherri Lydon to have sentencing in both cases done at the same time. Lydon has not yet ruled on the request, according to Veronica Hill, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina.
The Lake Wylie area fentanyl bust is the largest ever in York County. The DEA says fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 50 times more addictive than heroin.
The others convicted in that bust - Gayton’s twin brother Timario Martez Gayton, Quonzy Lanard Hope, 35; Thomas Anthony Perry, 37; and Javaris Latrey Johnson, 31; face 10 years to life after pleading guilty.
