4 CONVICTED IN LANCASTER DRUG TRAFFICKING SCHEME

COLUMBIA -- A jury convicted four people Wednesday for their part in a
two-year drug trafficking scheme in Lancaster. One defendant was found not
guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Rawle A. Cole, Stacy L. Hayden, Wayne M. Brown and Shanreca L. Crawford were
found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and
distribution of cocaine and crack cocaine. Cole also was found guilty of
providing guns to be used for drug trafficking.

At sentencing in U.S. District Court, each defendant faces up to a $4
million fine or life in prison, or both.

The same jury acquitted Robert Lewis Griffin of Lancaster, Assistant U.S.
Attorney Marshall Prince said. Griffin had been charged with conspiracy to
possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

Eleven other people have pleaded guilty to charges in the drug ring, known
on the street as "the Jamaicans," because two of its leaders had dreadlocks.
Two people, including one of the leaders, have not been caught, Prince said.

Authorities investigated the ring for about two years. After one of the
leaders shot a man he thought was trying to take over the business, local
and federal officers sped up the probe. On Oct. 23, they seized bulletproof
vests, guns, police scanners and drugs in a rented house and began arresting
suspects.

Prosecutors said Cole and two others hired crack addicts to rent and set up
three drug houses in Lancaster's "Hill" area of East Gay Street. Cole
supplied drugs and had Hayden, Crawford, Brown and others sell crack from
the houses.

Trial testimony also revealed Cole recruited several people from New York as
"overseers" and "enforcers" at the houses. They received kilo-sized
shipments of crack since 1996 from a New York supplier and sold it in small
portions out of the houses, Prince said.

Prince said Cole first set up the operation in Bennettsville, but moved it
to Lancaster in early 1996. He said investigators do not know why he chose
South Carolina.

"Apparently, business was pretty good there," Prince said.

Prince declined to say how much money investigators believe the drug ring
made in its two years in Lancaster County.

Reach Melissa Manware at (803) 327-8510 or: mmanware@charlotte.com