Man pleads guilty to drug conspiracy, distribution from New York to Columbia

Columbia, SC (WOLO) —  The South Carolina Division of the United States District Attorney’s Office has just completed a case involving a man from New York they say had been on the run for the past 8 years accused of running heroin into the Palmetto State.  According to the U.S. District attorney says 34 year old Dockim Deeshawn McKnight from Brooklyn, New York pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and another charge to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin.

According to officials with the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, McKnight was one of 10 individuals charged after prosecutors say they obtained evidence from various wire tapes on phones linked to the Midlands. It took another 8 years for U.S. Marshalls in Brooklyn to track him down and take him into custody. Officials say two more people connected to the case were arrested in Texas in 2017, and an additional fugitive was nabbed in Concord, North Carolina and is currently awaiting trail.

The case against the 10 defendants dates back to 2013, when investigators say they discovered a group of people in Columbia they say were getting Heroin from packages shipped to the Midlands from India, even reportedly going to New York to pick up the drugs before it was then sold throughout the Columbia area. During their investigation, authorities say they were able to intercede in one of the transactions and managed to seize more than 150 grams of heroin from McKnight and his girlfriend Jessany Lyons as police say the duo was boarding a bus heading back to Columbia.

McKnight could spend anywhere from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 40 years in a federal prison. He is expected to be sentenced after the United States District Judge is able to obtain and review a sentencing report from the United States Probation Office.

The 8 additional defendants in the case plead guilty for their roles in the scheme a majority of them who resided right here in Columbia. Authorities say the heroin suppliers were from New York. Those individuals have since been sentenced and identified as follows:

• Eric Shawn Bradley of Columbia, sentenced to 210 months imprisonment with 8 years of supervised release.
• Michael Glover of Columbia sentenced to 324 months imprisonment with 8 years of supervised release
• Jihad Salahadeen Pollard of Columbia , sentenced to 121 months imprisonment with 4 years of supervised release.
• Kenneth Crawford, Jr., of Washington, D.C. (formerly of Columbia) sentenced to 120 months imprisonment with 8 years of supervised release
• Charles Raheem Bradley of Columbia, sentenced to 57 months imprisonment with 6 years of supervised release to follow
• Anthony Troy Glover of Columbia,  sentenced to 120 months imprisonment with 8 years of supervised release to follow
• Larry Grover Bookman of Columbia, sentenced to 70 months imprisonment with 6 years of supervised release
• Jessany Lyons of Far Rockaway, New York, sentenced to 37 months imprisonment with 3 years of supervised release.

The U.S. District Attorney’s Office says the individuals they say supplied the heroin were charged and convicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.