A Pickens man convicted of trafficking fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and crack cocaine has been sentenced to 34 years in prison and ordered to pay a $475,000 fine, following a jury trial that traced back to a routine house-arrest compliance check gone very wrong. De'Van Tovantey Nance, 34, was also convicted of possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, along with cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy possession charges.
According to WSPA 7News, the case began when Spartanburg County deputies visited Nance's residence to check his compliance with house arrest in an unrelated case. That visit turned up a backpack containing large amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine, prompting a broader search. The Pickens County Courier reported that the discovery triggered the Pickens County Sheriff's Office Special Operations Unit and Narcotics Unit to execute a search warrant at the home in May 2023.
Once narcotics agents got inside, they found trafficking quantities of crack cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, along with additional cocaine, ecstasy, and two firearms, the station's report indicates. Per Solicitor Cindy S. Crick, deputies recovered around 340 grams of fentanyl and heroin combined, plus roughly 150 grams of methamphetamine, from the home. Prosecutors estimated the total haul carried a street value between $80,000 and $110,000.
Jury Convicts Nance on Four Trafficking Counts
A multi-day jury trial in Pickens County ended with Nance convicted on four distinct trafficking counts, covering fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and crack cocaine in weights the 13th Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office says qualified as trafficking-level quantities. The office, which announced the sentence, noted the verdict also included possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, ecstasy possession, and the weapons charge. Assistant Solicitors Jake Lampke and John Gardner prosecuted the case for the office.
Judge Vernon F. Dunbar sentenced Nance to 34 years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections and ordered him to pay the $475,000 fine. Because drug trafficking is classified as a violent, no-parole offense under South Carolina Code § 16-1-60 and § 44-53-370, Nance must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he becomes eligible for community supervision — nearly 29 years behind bars, according to the Grand Strand Law Group.
State's Fentanyl Law Sets the Stage for Steep Penalties
The severity of the sentence stems in part from House Bill 3503, a law South Carolina enacted in June 2023 that established mandatory minimum prison terms ranging from seven to 25 years for trafficking four or more grams of fentanyl, according to the South Carolina Office of the Governor. Statutory fines tied to drug weight and prior offenses can run up to $200,000 per count, per the Law Office of Mo Abusaft, which helps explain how Nance's penalty reached nearly half a million dollars.
The prosecution fell under the 13th Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office, the largest such office in South Carolina, which handles state criminal prosecutions across Greenville and Pickens counties. Governor Henry McMaster appointed Cindy S. Crick to lead the circuit in June 2025 after Walt Wilkins retired following more than 14 years in the role, as Greenville Business Magazine reported at the time.
Case Fits a Broader Upstate Enforcement Push
Nance's sentencing follows a string of similar Upstate cases this summer prosecuted under Crick's office, including a Mauldin meth trafficking sentence and a Walhalla bust that ended in 13 years for a man caught with methamphetamine on Adams Sullivan Road. The pattern points to sustained multi-agency narcotics enforcement across Greenville and Pickens counties.
The case also lands amid encouraging statewide overdose numbers. Fatal drug overdoses in South Carolina dropped 31.3 percent in 2024 to 1,481 deaths, down from 2,157 the year before, marking the state's second consecutive year of decline, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Health. Even so, synthetic opioids led by illicit fentanyl remained the leading cause of those deaths, accounting for 914 of the 1,481 fatalities recorded in 2024 — a statistic that underscores why prosecutors have made fentanyl trafficking cases like Nance's a priority.
Nance was initially charged with drug trafficking and weapons offenses in 2023, and it took until this trial for a jury to reach its verdict. What led Spartanburg County deputies to check on his house-arrest compliance in the first place, and how that earlier case was resolved, remains unclear from available records.
