Columbia man gets 16 years in federal prison in connection with drug case
A Columbia man has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison following a guilty plea in a drug trafficking case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina said in a Friday news release that Columbia’s Johnny Lee Dickerson, 45, has been sentenced to 200 months in prison after pleading guilty to a federal drug trafficking offense.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that the Columbia Police Department and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration investigated Dickerson as a “supplier of multiple controlled substances in Columbia and Lexington County.” Between February 2024 and June 2024, Dickerson sold more than 450 grams of methamphetamine to undercover officers and confidential informants, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“At the sentencing hearing, Dickerson was held responsible for approximately 3,906 grams of cocaine, 56.7 grams of crack cocaine, 453.6 grams of methamphetamine, and 43 grams of marijuana,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its release.
Because Dickerson had a number of previous drug convictions, he was designated a career offender under federal sentencing guidelines, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Judge Mary Geiger sentenced Dickerson to the more than 16 years in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariyana Gore prosecuted the case, and attorney Elizabeth Franklin-Best represented Dickerson, per court records.
