10 charged in York County, SC drug raid: Meth, fentanyl, guns seized near NC
Police have charged 10 men and seized pounds of drugs and guns after a monthslong investigation near Clover that has ties to North Carolina, York County officials and federal officials said Tuesday at a news conference.
Police with the York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit seized more than 10 pounds of methamphetamine, along with fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs during arrests Sept. 4, deputies said. More than a dozen guns were also seized.
The people arrested were part of a tight-knit group that ran a drug ring out of a barber shop/store in Clover, York County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Trent Faris said.
The investigation started in February and ramped up after a shooting near a children’s baseball game in March in Clover. At least two of the people arrested have pending charges in Charlotte and one was out on bail on an attempted murder charge in North Carolina when arrested in the drug case, officials said.
Clover, a town of less than 10,000 people, is just south of the North Carolina state line with easy access to both Gaston and Mecklenburg counties. The Clover general area includes fast-growing Lake Wylie and other northwestern areas of York County where the population and commercial areas have boomed in recent years.
Officials: NC crime spillover to SC a problem
York County Sheriff Tony Breeden, Clover Police Chief Randy Grice, and 16th Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett all said the drug seizures make the community safer from violent crimes. Brackett, York County’s top prosecutor, said drug dealing and guns are often connected “like peanut butter and jelly.”
Brackett said York County’s drug unit and police will continue to target drug and violent offenders who commit crimes across the border in South Carolina. He said consequences for convictions are harsher in South Carolina as North Carolina deals with underfunded courts and overfilled jails.
“People that would not get a bond in South Carolina are released up in Charlotte, and they are released often times to commit more crimes,” Brackett said.
Brackett complained about North Carolina’s politicians not addressing public safety and courts crises.
“Their problems are washing over the border,” Brackett said.
He reiterated that all persons charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty, but officials in York County will continue to investigating and prosecuting drug and gun crimes when they happen here nearby to Charlotte, Brackett said.
Drug interdiction reduces violent crime, Brackett said. More, the connection of the alleged drug dealing to the shooting near a children’s baseball game in March is “absolutely unacceptable,” Brackett said.
In that incident, people at the park fled after shots were fired nearby.
Sheriff: Break the law in SC ‘were gonna go after you’
Breeden, elected sheriff in 2024 on a tough-on-crime stance, said the drug unit works cases that affect all of York County, especially close to the North Carolina border. The county drug unit has officers from the sheriff’s office, Rock Hill police, and all the other smaller police departments in the county.
“We can’t control what Charlotte’s gonna do,’ Breeden said. “We can control when you get here... You break the law here, we’re gonna go after you...You didn’t learn a lesson up there, then come down here and learn a lesson.”
He vowed more drug interdiction efforts near the Charlotte border. He pointed at drug agents at the back of the room: “Ya’ll arent done, are ya?” Breeden said.
Investigation lasted months
The news conference was also broadcast live on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.
Authorities believe one of the men arrested Sept. 4, Aaron Jerome Floyd, 33, of Clover, is a documented gang member and leader of the Bloods gang set in the Clover area, Faris said. Floyd is accused of possessing two guns, over 10 pounds of meth and other drugs when arrested and faces nine charges including five counts of drug trafficking.
Other people charged have ties to Charlotte, including Frederic Stephens Jr., 33, of Clover. Stephens was out on bond from Charlotte on attempted murder and other charges when arrested in York County, according to Faris.
According to Mecklenburg County, N.C., court records, a $100,000 secured bond was set for Stephens in the Charlotte case. A grand jury in June 2023 indicted him on felony charges of assault with deadly weapon with intent to kill, attempted first-degree murder, breaking or entering a motor vehicle and discharging a firearm into occupied property.
Another person facing charges was located and arrested in Charlotte by police on the day of the raid, Sept. 4 while in possession of drugs and a gun, but later was released on bail in North Carolina, Faris said. Deputies still have not served warrants against that suspect, Faris said.
The others face pending drug charges, Faris said.
This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 1:38 PM.
