Columbia, South Carolina ---- Acting United States Attorney Beth Drake announced today that Melvin Boswell, Jr., age 48, of Greenville, South Carolina, pled guilty to conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute and to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Boswell’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled, but his guilty plea subjects him to a statutory minimum sentence of 25 years imprisonment.
On Aug. 20, 2015, Greenville Police Department Officers arrested Boswell at a business in Greenville County after Boswell had cut his ankle monitor while on bond for other charges. While searching Boswell’s person and a rental car Boswell had driven to the business, police found: (1) 10 firearms (one of which was stolen); (2) numerous pieces of ammunition; (3) in excess of $70,000 worth of cocaine, crack cocaine, and heroin; (4) digital scales; and (5) in excess of $7000 in U.S. Currency. At the time Boswell possessed these items, he was a convicted felon.
Boswell was arrested during the initiation of “Operation Real-Time," a partnership between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Greenville Police Department to transfer career criminals who possess firearms to federal court for immediate prosecution.
The case was investigated by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration working in conjunction with the Greenville Police Department and the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Andy Moorman and Lance Crick of the Greenville office handled the case. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
