Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Artemio Bustos Solano, age 40, of Horry County, S.C., pled guilty in federal court in Florence, South Carolina. Solano pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, a violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846. United States District Judge Bryan Harwell, of Florence, accepted the plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report, which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.
Evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing established that in the later part of 2010, agents learned from a confidential informant that Solano and a co-defendant, who previously pled guilty and has been sentenced, were involved in the distribution of multiple kilograms of cocaine in the Horry County area. The informant was able to approach Solano and the co-defendant and arrange for the controlled purchase of two kilograms of cocaine from them. Solano negotiated the details of the deal which was to take place on April 8, 2011, in the parking lot of a grocery store on Highway 701N in Conway. On April 8, the informant brought the “buy money" to the grocery store parking lot and showed it to the co-defendant who then left to retrieve the cocaine from Solano’s residence. After the co-defendant returned to the grocery store with the cocaine, agents arrested the co-defendant and seized the two kilograms. However, agents were not able to apprehend Solano at the scene. He was not arrested until September 2017.
Ms. Drake stated the maximum penalty Solano can receive is imprisonment for 20 years and a fine of $1,000,000.00.
The case was investigated by agents of ICE- Homeland Security Investigations with the assistance of the 15th Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU). Assistant United States Attorney A. Bradley Parham of the Florence office handled the case. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
