A routine traffic stop over a blown stop sign in Richland County turned into a felony drug case that just landed a South Carolina man a 25-year prison sentence. Dorian Allen was convicted on Oct. 15 of trafficking cocaine weighing 400 grams or more, after deputies discovered more than a kilogram of the drug hidden under the floorboard of his car during a 2022 stop.
The case began on Oct. 4, 2022, when a Richland County Sheriff's Department deputy pulled Allen over for running a stop sign, according to the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's Office. As deputies approached the vehicle, they noticed indications of recent marijuana use and found a small amount of marijuana in Allen's possession, the solicitor's office said. Allen then fled on foot, prompting a brief chase before deputies caught up with him and took him into custody, as WYFF reported.
What Deputies Found Under the Floorboard
Before Allen fled on foot, law enforcement searched the car and found over a kilogram of cocaine hidden under the driver's-side floorboard, per the solicitor's office account. That discovery led to the trafficking charge that a Richland County jury ultimately convicted Allen on earlier this month, finding him guilty of trafficking cocaine weighing 400 grams or more.
Judge Heath Taylor handed down the sentence, ordering Allen to serve 25 years in a South Carolina Department of Corrections facility. Assistant Solicitors Nick Fowler and Sam McGlothin led the prosecution, while RCSD Sgt. Morgan Smith investigated the case, according to the solicitor's office.
A Regional Trafficking Problem
The case fits into a broader pattern flagged in a regional drug threat assessment, which identifies the Atlanta-Carolinas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area as a primary hub for cocaine trafficking and distribution on the East Coast.
