Columbia man busted on drug, gun charges by deputies looking for someone else, cops say
A Columbia man is in jail on multiple drug charges after he was arrested by deputies who were searching for another person wanted for a separate crime, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department said.
Brandon Xavier White, 25, was arrested Saturday, jail records show.
He was taken into custody by deputies who were looking for a man wanted in connection to a property crime, the sheriff’s department said.
“Patrol deputies were at an apartment on Bush River Road looking for Yul Gist, who was wanted on a charge of failure to return rental property,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a news release. “They saw drugs in plain sight while inside the apartment.”
The deputies requested the assistance of narcotics agents, who secured a search warrant for the apartment, according to Koon.
“Agents found 35 grams of crack cocaine, 21 grams of meth, 11 grams of heroin, an ounce of marijuana, two guns and $601 in cash,” Koon said. “White, who was inside the apartment, took ownership of all the drugs and the guns.”
White was taken to the Lexington County Detention Center where he was charged with trafficking crack cocaine, trafficking meth, trafficking heroin, possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to the sheriff’s department.
White remains locked up after his bond was set at $110,000 on the combined charges, jail records show.
Deputies found the man they were originally looking for when they stumbled across the drugs, and Gist was arrested on the property crime charge, the sheriff’s department said.
Gist, who court records show pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge in 2017, is not being held at the Lexington County Detention Center, according to jail records.
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This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 8:02 AM.
