Kilo of cocaine, meth, marijuana and guns found in search of SC home, police say
Two men were arrested after a recent bust where large amounts of drugs along with guns and cash were seized, according to the Sumter Police Department.
A home in the 200 block of Brand Street was searched Oct. 9 by officers, deputies with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and agents with the FBI’s Columbia bureau, police said in a news release. That’s in Sumter, in the area between U.S. 15 and U.S. 521.
The law enforcement officers found 8 pounds of marijuana, a kilo of cocaine, 62 grams of crack cocaine, 135 grams of methamphetamine, two guns and $5,600 in cash, according to the release.
Police said that 65-year-old Perry Sherrod Taft and 37-year-old Marquis Quintell Durant live at the home and were booked into the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center where they were each charged with multiple crimes.
Taft was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, trafficking crack cocaine (more than 28 grams and less than 100 grams) and trafficking cocaine (more than 200 grams and less than 400 grams), according to the release.
Durant was charged with trafficking cocaine (more than 400 grams), trafficking crack cocaine (more than 28 grams and less than 100 grams), possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession of a machine gun and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm, police said.
Taft’s bond was set at $75,000 on the combined charges and posted Oct. 10, Sumter County court records show.
No bond was set for Durant, who has been charged with at least 13 crimes in Sumter County in multiple incidents over the past 20 years, according to court records.
There was another drug bust in Sumter a week after Taft and Durant were arrested.
On Oct. 16, 32-year-old Celestino Anthony Gonzalez Jr. was arrested following a search of his home, the sheriff’s office said.
Gonzalez was charged with trafficking cocaine, manufacture, possession and distribution of narcotics, possession of a weapon during violent crime, possession of firearm by person convicted of violent felony and possession of firearm by person convicted of certain crimes, according to the sheriff’s office.
Gonzalez was booked at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center, and his bond was set at $35,000, the sheriff’s office said.
Neither police nor the sheriff’s office provided information indicating that the drug busts were connected.
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This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 9:34 AM with the headline "Kilo of cocaine, meth, marijuana and guns found in search of SC home, police say."
