Lexington, SC 08/17/2023 (Paul Kirby) – According to Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard, Steven Daniel Brown, also known as “Steve-O”, age 50, was convicted of trafficking 400 grams or more of methamphetamine recently. Brown is a validated member of a motorcycle gang. Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Cooper, Jr. sentenced Brown to 25 years in prison on August 10, 2023, after a Lexington County jury convicted him. He was immediately transferred to the SCDC to begin serving his sentence.
In 2018, investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department narcotics enforcement and crime reduction teams received information that Brown was involved in the trafficking of narcotics. Two years later, in 2020, during an ongoing investigation, law enforcement received additional information that Brown would travel to the metro area of Atlanta, Georgia, to purchase large amounts of methamphetamine to bring back into Lexington County.
In June of 2020, in coordination with the South Carolina Highway Patrol, a criminal interdiction team with a narcotics detection K9 conducted a traffic stop on Brown’s vehicle during a return trip from Atlanta. The K9 alerted to the presence of narcotics in Brown’s vehicle, and a search was conducted. At the beginning of the search, Brown stated to law enforcement “it’s in the floorboard.” Search of the vehicle revealed approximately 3 kilograms, equal to 7 pounds of a substance consistent with methamphetamine. It was packaged in three separate containers inside of a liquor box in the rear passenger floorboard. Brown was arrested at that time for trafficking in methamphetamine.
During the investigation, law enforcement discovered text messages from Brown’s phone with a supplier in the Atlanta area. These text messages showed detailed plans and price negotiations between Brown and the supplier for the purchase of the drugs law enforcement officers found in the vehicle. Later chemical analysis confirmed that the substance was in fact meth.
Assistant Solicitors Kyle E. Smith and Kelly Oppenheimer prosecuted this case on behalf of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office. At sentencing, Assistant Solicitor Smith noted that the highest threshold for trafficking methamphetamine under South Carolina law is 400 grams or more, and that Brown had cleared that mark seven times over.
