SC man who sold drugs from his Lexington County home charged in homicide, cops say
A South Carolina man in jail from a previous arrest was charged with another crime following drug-related death, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.
Bradford Wayne Jovanelly, a 46-year-old West Columbia resident, was charged with fentanyl-induced homicide, the sheriff’s department said Tuesday in a news release. That charge is also listed as murder, Lexington County court records show.
A fatal overdose happened this summer after Jovanelly sold drugs from his home, according to the release.
“Based on the information agents gathered during their investigation, Jovanelly knowingly and unlawfully sold fentanyl to two people in July,” Sheriff Jay Koon said in the release. “Law enforcement became aware of this after one of the people died a few days later of an overdose, which was investigated by the Lexington Police Department.”
Investigators determined the drugs involved in a woman’s overdose were purchased from someone the buyers knew as “Brad,” according to the release.
“We reviewed the phone of the person who overdosed after securing a search warrant for its data and confirmed a connection between the buyers and Jovanelly,” Koon said.
Jovanelly was arrested on drug possession charges Aug. 1 and was still being held in the Lexington County Detention Center when the fentanyl-induced homicide charge was brought against him Sept. 22, the sheriff’s department said.
A judge denied him bond, according to the release.
In addition to the previously-related charges (meth or cocaine base possession, trafficking fentanyl, possession of firearm or ammunition by person convicted of certain crimes, possession of a weapons during a violent crime and commission of violent crime while on bond), Jovanelly was out on bond when he was arrested in August, court records show. He’s also facing pending drug charges (trafficking meth or cocaine base, trafficking fentanyl, trafficking heroin) and a weapons possession charge from a February 2024 arrest, according to court records.
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