SC drug dealer found guilty after skipping his trial. He just learned his sentence
Antonio Lopez Moore, 51, stood in York County criminal court Monday for sentencing after a jury convicted him 12 days earlier of trafficking drugs. Yet it was his first time at the Moss Justice Center in this case because Moore, a repeat offender, did not show up for his trial two weeks before.
He was out on bail at the time the trial started. When the case for trafficking methamphetamine and possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute was called, Moore was a no-show.
16th Circuit Senior Solicitor Marina Hamilton won a conviction without the jury ever seeing him.
Visiting S.C. Circuit Judge Keith Kelly had sealed the sentenced after the jury verdict the morning of June 4. Nobody knew what it was except Kelly.
Police and prosecutors put out a fugitive alert for Moore after he was convicted.
South Carolina police found Moore days later in a Rock Hill motel, officials said. He was jailed until Monday when court resumed.
Deputies brought Moore in from a holding cell. Kelly ripped open the envelope and said he wanted the envelope that had been sealed to be a court exhibit.
“The sentence is 30 years,” Kelly said for trafficking meth. That’s the maximum for the conviction.
Kelly then sentenced Moore to 30 years for the fentanyl dealing. Another max. Kelly ran that 30 years concurrent with the other conviction.
Trial in abstentia is legal
A trial without a defendant present is legal if the person has been properly notified of the trial and warned the hearing will go on without them if they don’t attend, according to prosecutors and South Carolina law.
Moore has previous convictions for a 1996 burglary where he got 10 years in prison, then a 2005 crack cocaine dealing conviction where he got 15 years, Hamilton said.
The newer drug cases against Moore carried a five-year minimum up to 30 years. Moore rejected a plea offer of 10 years in the current case, Hamilton said.
“He made the mistake of trafficking meth and possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute in York County,” Hamilton said after court.
Moore’s lawyer, Fred Davis of the York County Public Defender’s Office, had asked for a lesser sentence than the 30 years.
Moore didn’t speak in court Monday other than to accept his sentence and plead guilty to two unrelated traffic and gun charges from another incident where Kelly ran the sentence concurrent with the 30 years.
Another drug trafficking conviction next door
Moore’s conviction on June 4 was not the only drug trafficking guilty verdict that day at almost the same time — but the other defendant did show up for court.
In the courtroom next door, a different jury convicted Jeremiah Bostic, 26, another repeat offender, of trafficking crack cocaine and weapon charges. Judge Bill McKinnon gave Bostic a mandatory 25 years for several ounces of drugs and another two years for the gun, according to court records and prosecutor Kevin Bayona.
“The defendant was caught with over 120 grams of crack cocaine — which is an extraordinary amount — and a gun with an extended magazine,” Bayona said. “ That is consistent with a drug trafficker who poisons our community and contributes to devastating violence on our streets.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story had misspelled the last name of Jeremiah Bostic.
This story was originally published June 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
