A search warrant executed at a home on Brushy Creek Road in Taylors turned up a sprawling haul of illegal drugs, firearms and cash, with Greenville County deputies arresting three people in connection with the investigation. The seizure included 281 THC vapes, cocaine, mushrooms, MDMA, fentanyl, LSD and five firearms, along with $5,090 in cash.
According to FOX Carolina News, deputies seized 281 THC vapes, 8.79 pounds of marijuana and 11.05 ounces of THC gummies from the property. The reported haul also included 57.53 grams of cocaine, 272.2 grams of mushrooms, 44.09 grams of MDMA, just 0.06 grams of fentanyl, 69 assorted controlled pills and 513 doses of LSD, the outlet reported.
Deputies also reported recovering five firearms and seven additional firearm barrels or uppers, plus five canisters of nitrous oxide, on top of the cash found at the scene. The search was carried out by members of the Directed Patrol Unit, according to wspa.com, which reported deputies executed the warrant at the Brushy Creek Road property following an investigation.
Three Suspects Face a Long List of Charges
Court records cited by the station show three suspects were arrested Sept. 8 in connection with the investigation. Corban Vander faces the most serious charges, including trafficking cocaine, trafficking marijuana, possession with intent to distribute THC, possession with intent to distribute mushrooms, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and possession of a machine gun.
Franklin Simpson was charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana along with possession of THC and cocaine, per the same report. A third suspect, Amari Powers, was charged only with marijuana possession, a far less serious count than those filed against his co-defendants.
All three men have since posted bond and been released from the Greenville County Detention Center, the station noted. It remains unclear which items recovered during the search were tied to which suspect.
Part of a Pattern of Upstate Vape and Drug Busts
The Taylors case echoes a string of recent Greenville-area drug seizures. In December, FOX Carolina reported that a man in a separate Fairplay case was found with approximately 1,504 THC vape pens containing a 93 percent concentration of THC, along with two handguns in a vehicle; that suspect, identified as Vander-Ploeg, was charged with drug trafficking and two counts of possessing a weapon during a violent crime.
That same month, deputies assisted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in a vape shop investigation that reportedly turned up 1,850 pounds of marijuana and $530,000 in cash, with charges described as possible against a number of individuals. Other recent Greenville County cases, including a February apartment raid tied to methamphetamine, cocaine and a pill press and a March seizure of crack cocaine and a firearm from a home, point to continued enforcement activity across the Upstate, according to reporting from WYFF.
