Tim Scott vows to continue fight against fentanyl traffickers after major Midlands pill bust
South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott is vowing to continue his fight against fentanyl traffickers after a man was recently caught in Lexington County with hundreds of pills containing the lethal substance.
Scott said he remains committed to passing his Fend Off Fentanyl Act ⏤ a sanctions and anti-money laundering bill aimed at helping to combat the country’s fentanyl crisis ⏤ after 20-year-old Jakob Regan Dator was arrested Monday for allegedly possessing nearly 600 fentanyl pills in Lexington County.
“In South Carolina, our police officers are hard at work saving lives and targeting fentanyl traffickers,” Scott said in a tweet Tuesday, citing Dator’s arrest. “I’ll never stop fighting to pass my FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which would crack down on the Mexican cartels funneling this poison into our communities.”
Dator’s arrest and Scott’s pledge follow a new fentanyl trafficking law in South Carolina, signed by Gov. Henry McMaster earlier this month. Previously, there was no law specifically dealing with fentanyl in the state.
Scott’s proposal would enhance current U.S. law on fentanyl trafficking, aiming to provide U.S. government agencies more leeway in tackling illicit supply chains involving suppliers and traffickers. The bill also ensures that sanctions are imposed not only on the illicit drug trade, but also on the money laundering that makes it profitable.
The bill was included in the U.S. Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, an essential step toward the bill becoming law.
“Mexican traffickers and Chinese drug suppliers are fueling America’s fentanyl crisis,” Scott said last month in a news release. “My FEND Off Fentanyl Act targets the financial assets of these criminal groups, cutting off their income right at the source.”
South Carolina’s new law makes it a felony to knowingly possess two grams of fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance. A person faces up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for a first offense, up to 10 years in prison and a $7,500 fine for a second offense, and up to 15 years and a $10,000 fine for third and subsequent offenses.
People who traffic fentanyl now face anywhere from seven to 40 years in prison, depending on which offense they’re convicted of and how much they are selling.
Dator is one of the first to be charged under the new state statute and now faces a mandatory sentence of at least 25 to 40 years in prison and a $200,000 fine.
