Contact Person: Lance Crick (864) 282-2100
Columbia, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Thurmond Lowery, Jr., age 36, of Cheraw, SC, was sentenced yesterday afternoon in federal court in Florence on multiple gun and drug charges to include felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute and distribution of heroin, and possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine. United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell of Florence sentenced Lowery to 150 months in federal prison.
Evidence presented at Lowery’s guilty plea hearing established that on April 19, 2015, an officer with the Myrtle Beach Police Department (MBPD) conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Lowery. Lowery was placed under arrest for driving under suspension. During a search of the vehicle a loaded .40 caliber handgun was found. Lowery was prohibited from possessing a handgun because he had previously been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison. During August 2015, officers with the Fifteenth Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were investigating drug activity in the Myrtle Beach area. As part of that investigation, on August 4, 2015, DEU and FBI agents made a controlled buy of a quantity of heroin from Lowery. The next day, agents made a second controlled buy of a quantity of cocaine from Lowery.
The case was investigated by agents of the Fifteenth Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Assistant United States Attorney Christopher D. Taylor of the Florence office prosecuted the case.
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