TRAINING SESSION ENDS IN DRUG BUST

RIDGELAND, S.C. -- Two Robeson County sheriff's deputies in South Carolina
to teach criminal interstate enforcement techniques managed to turn the
theoretical "how-to" class into a real-life "we did" demonstration.

On Sunday, the Robeson County officers -- drug agents J.O. Hunt and Steve
Lovin -- were riding with Ridgeland police Officers Hunter Benn and Chris
Malphrus when they stopped a vehicle on Interstate 95 in Jasper County for
a simple traffic violation.

That stop quickly turned into a classroom.

Lovin said 30 kilograms of cocaine were found in a duffel bag in the trunk
of the 2003 Buick that was being driven by David Simon, 33, of Atlanta. The
cocaine had a street value of more than $4 million.

"You never know what you're going to find when you stop a car," Lovin said.
"We can stop 30 cars in a day and we usually find somebody who is wanted."

Simon was traveling north from Fort Lauderdale and was on his way to
Columbia, S.C., Lovin said. After being charged with felony trafficking
cocaine, Simon was being held in the Jasper County jail under $750,000 bail.

Lovin and Hunt were training Ridgeland police on how to identify vehicles
that are carrying drugs and how to turn routine traffic stops into
something more.

"It's teaching them to go beyond just issuing a speeding ticket, to catch
wanted people and others involved in criminal activity on the interstate,"
Lovin said.