Refrigerated Trailer for Rent in Sumter, SC

Federal agents bust a multi-national drug and money-laundering network involving Mexican gangs and Chinese launderers in Sumter, uncovering $15M operation.

Credit: KUSA

SUMTER COUNTY, S.C. — State, local and federal agencies have made multiple arrests in what they describe as a multi-national drug and money-laundering network based in Sumter County.

The Sumter County Sheriff's Office said 23-year-old Caspin Powers Adachi, 32-year-old Fnu Naimullah and 27-year-old Nasir Ullah, all of Sumter, were arrested on charges tied to an operation that laundered drug money tied to Mexican gangs with help from Chinese money launderers, sending items to the Middle East and China.

The sheriff's office said the multi-year investigation was headed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from several state and local agencies and focused on money laundering for Mexico's Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CING) and the Sinaloa Cartel.

On Jan. 23, local law enforcement assisted state and federal agents in serving warrants for money laundering at two Borad Street businesses and at homes on Rhododendron Street and Currituck Drive that authorities allege Adachi, Naimullah and Ullah used. Another unnamed associate was also arrested in Richland County on money laundering charges.

The sheriff's office said investigators believe the suspects worked for years with cartel-affiliated Chinese money launderers operating in Georgia and South Carolina. The Sumter operation is accused of receiving more than $15 million in drug cash and using that money to buy a large amount of electronics for export, primarily to China and countries in the Middle East. Authorities said the money was mainly from the sale of fentanyl by Mexican gang drug dealers operating in the United States.

Drug raids uncovered an estimated $230,000 in cash, three vehicles, 11 firearms and jewelry "totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars." Another suspect, Chinese national Puquan Huang, was arrested in Gwinnett County, Georgia and will be brought back to South Carolina.

In Sumter County, Adachi, Naimullah and Ullah face charges of knowingly attempting or conducting a financial transaction with proceeds of unlawful activity to promote or conceal for transactions that total or exceed $100,000 in a 12-month period. This is a felony charge. The Sumter County Sheriff's Office said all three were taken to the Sumter County Sheriff's Office. Adachi and Ullah posted $20,000 surety bonds, and Naimullah posted a $200,000 bond.

Investigators said Ullah faces more charges in Richland County after an October 2024 arrest for allegedly smuggling about $180,000. Ullah and Naimullah's father, Mohammad Azam Khan, is considered a fugitive and is possibly in Dubai, authorities said.

The South Carolina Department of Public Health revoked the facility's license due to a reported 'history of non-compliance.'

SUMTER, S.C. — Families of residents at Carriage House of Sumter, also known as Patriot Living, are scrambling to find new homes for their loved ones following the facility’s sudden closure.

Angela Riles-Irby, whose relative resides at the facility, said she was shocked to learn about the closure through word of mouth rather than official communication.

“We never got anything in writing, we never got a letter, no type of paperwork—everything was verbally,” Riles-Irby said.

News19 made multiple attempts to contact the management team but could not reach them.

According to a Healthcare Quality Enforcement Report from the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH), state officials visited the facility six times between April and September and documented numerous violations.

These included:

The state health department revoked the facility's license due to what it described as a “history of non-compliance." The full report is available online.

“That’s really concerning, and that saddens me,” Riles-Irby said. “He’s been there all that time, a whole year now and all of this was going on and we never knew.”

"My god, it just breaks my heart; I'm speechless; I just don't know what else to say," she added.

The DPH said the facility’s license will remain in effect until the last resident is relocated or until March 19—whichever comes first.

The South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) said it was working with other organizations and state agencies to help relocate residents from all four locations impacted by the closures, including the one in Sumter. Additional information about adult protective services provided by DSS is available at dss.sc.gov.

Details related to the release and transfer of residents from Community Residential Care Facilities, including the notification of family members or sponsors, are available in the South Carolina Department of Public Health's Standards for Community Residential Care Facilities under section 906. It states that:

South Carolina's Bill of Rights for residents of long-term care facilities can also be found here.

Residents and families can lodge complaints against licensed care facilities by visiting this DPH website.

SUMTER — The sixth veterans’ nursing home in this military-friendly state officially opened Friday less than 10 miles from Shaw Air Force Base.

The $71.5 million, 125,000 square-foot facility offers veterans low-cost care complete with a barbershop and salon, community game rooms and large public and private courtyards.

“This is the crown jewel of our dedication to our community and to our veterans in our community,” House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said at the ceremony. “I look forward to this facility being here for years to come.”

South Carolina is home to more than 68,000 active-duty and reserve military members, 400,000 veterans and eight military bases.

“There is still sort of this rebel spirit in the heart of the South Carolinian. Military folks, that sort of draws us into the profession,” said Sen. Jeff Zell, R-Sumter, who was stationed at Shaw for eight years before retiring with 20 years of service.

“We feel at home here,” said the freshman senator.

Shaw Air Force Base, located outside Sumter city limits, has been training pilots since World War II, opening six years before the Air Force was established as a separate military branch. Last September, Sumter was designated the state’s only World War II Heritage City.

More than 13% of Sumter County’s residents are veterans, according to census data, the highest percentage of South Carolina’s 46 counties.

Yet, Sumter wasn’t initially slated for a veterans’ nursing home.

When the state sought a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs grant in 2015 for additional nursing homes, the state was looking at opening a second one in Columbia.

Then Smith became chairman of the powerful budget-writing committee in 2019 and started publicly asking why the homes weren’t being located in other cities with military bases. The three existing nursing homes at the time — all at capacity — were located in Columbia, Walterboro and Anderson.

“I asked the question, ‘Why not Sumter?'” Smith, who became House speaker in 2022, told the crowd. “Why not put them in the military communities across the state?”

What had been planned for Columbia became Patriot’s Village near Shaw.

Zell said he was impressed by what he saw Friday.

“I didn’t realize the complexities of it,” he told the SC Daily Gazette. “This isn’t just a little building.”

The other two veterans nursing homes that opened ahead of Patriot’s Village are in Gaffney, home to Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler, and Florence, home of his powerful predecessor, the late Sen. Hugh Leatherman.

Future facilities in Orangeburg and Horry counties are set for completion over the next several years, said Robert Hoskins, the deputy director of facilities management for the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs.

Sumter named SC’s WWII Heritage City, recognizing military history

Gov. Henry McMaster is asking legislators to put an additional $20.6 million next fiscal year toward running the six veterans nursing homes.

The additional annual commitment would help ensure veterans are “well taken care of,” Lt. Gov. Pam Evette said Friday about the governor’s budget recommendations for 2025-26.

“I can hope you see our passion, not just in today, not just in what we’ve done, but our passion moving forward,” she said.

Veterans’ cost to live at Patriot’s Village is $68 a day, the same price as the locations in Florence and Gaffney. The three other facilities are priced at $45 a day, said Heyward Hilliard, the state’s director of veteran homes.

“It’s a great value,” he said.

All honorably discharged veterans who served full-time are eligible for the homes, Hilliard said.

The Sumter facility can accommodate up to 104 veterans and will have 130 full-time employees. Its amenities include areas for physical, occupational and speech therapies, dining areas, an on-site pharmacy and a pool hall.

Admissions are expected to begin in late February or early March.

However, one resident is already known.

Ernest Martin, an 82-year-old veteran, will be moving from the nursing home in Florence County to Patriot’s Village, so he can return to Sumter.

“Everything looks so modern, so good, so up to date,” Martin said. “It’s outstanding.”

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Veterans in need of care now have a new place in South Carolina to call home.

Patriot’s Village, the sixth veterans' nursing home in South Carolina, will accommodate 104 veterans and create 130 full-time jobs to help take care of those residents.

“It builds a deep friendship when you’re retired military,” said Air Force veteran Mike Stanislawczyk. “Vietnam era, World War Two era, whatever, it bonds that friendship and that’s the big benefit of having veterans here.”

This is one thing Air Force Veteran Mike Stanislawczyk said his father-in-law, Ernest Martin, will have as he moves into Patriot’s Village.

Before Patriot’s Village, it would take any family from Sumter about an hour to travel to any of the other five veteran nursing homes in South Carolina.

Martin says this is what his family had to do when visiting him at the Veteran Village in Florence, SC. Now, he’s relieved that the journey is just a short trip down the block.

“Relief you can’t explain; it really hits me hard,” Martin said, “It’s about an hour and a half drive (for them) to come see me. This is going to compare to the five minutes to ten minutes away (now).

South Carolina’s sixth veterans' nursing home expects to start admitting residents at the end of February or early March 2025. The facility is 125,000 square feet, and the project cost more than $71 million to complete.

Amenities the facility has include bistro dining, a pool hall, a beauty salon, and places where veterans can get physical, occupational, and speech therapies.

Martin’s daughter, Mary Stanislawczyk, says she’ll worry a little less about her father at night now, knowing he’s a few minutes down the road.

“If something happens, we can get to him quicker,” Mary said, “we’ll be able to come to him more during the day (and) we’ll be able to bring his little dog Benji who means the world to him, so, we’re very excited.”

Admission to the facility is limited to Veterans who have been separated from the U.S. Armed Forces under general or honorable conditions and qualify as South Carolina residents who are in need of skilled or intermediate nursing home care.

It will cost $68 a day to live there for service-connected veterans.

Veterans can apply to live in Patriot’s Village on the South Carolina Department of Veterans Affairs website.

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SUMTER, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, GreenGasUSA and Pilgrim’s Pride announced the commissioning of a renewable natural gas (RNG) project at Pilgrim’s poultry processing facility in Sumter, South Carolina. Leadership from both companies were joined by representatives of Governor Henry McMaster’s and U.S. Representative Ralph Norman’s offices, as well as members of the local business community to celebrate the collaboration and the dedicated investment in renewable energy technologies in the state of South Carolina. The project is expected to inject RNG into the pipeline by the end of the month.

At the Pilgrim’s Sumter processing facility, GreenGas is building upon existing methane capture capabilities and investment to convert biogas from wastewater streams, upgrading the biogas to pipeline quality RNG. The collaboration is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the Sumter facility while improving wastewater operations, as well as local air and water quality. GreenGas CEO and Founder Marc Fetten commented, “This project represents another significant win for South Carolina agriculture and industry and our environment. It is a demonstration of industries coming together and leading our collective journey into a lower carbon future while creating economic and environmental benefits for our communities. The renewable energy produced at this project is enough to power almost all the homes of the entire workforce working at the Pilgrim's Sumter plant, and is produced from what, until recently, was simply a waste stream.”

The Sumter RNG project is the first operational site under a strategic partnership between the two companies focused on the adoption of circular economy technologies and repurposing of waste streams into renewable energy. South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers commented, “Projects like the collaboration between Pilgrim’s Pride and GreenGasUSA at the Sumter facility enable participation from the agricultural sector in the circular economy. I am encouraged that South Carolina has emerged as a hub for partnerships that leverage the expertise and practices of traditional industries – like farming – to produce high-quality renewable energy products.” GreenGasUSA and Pilgrim’s Pride parent company JBS are currently developing and constructing additional RNG projects located at processing facilities across the U.S.

“Pilgrim's is committed to embedding sustainability in our business," said Pilgrim's CEO Fabio Sandri. "Our partnership with GreenGasUSA in Sumter is a prime example of how Pilgrim's can implement innovative solutions to reduce our GHG footprint and unlock value for our business. Given these efforts, we can strengthen America's food supply and create a better future for our communities where we operate."

About GreenGasUSA: GreenGasUSA partners with global businesses to help reduce their environmental footprint by producing renewable natural gas and other renewable products, like carbon dioxide (CO₂), clean water, and agricultural nutrients. GreenGasUSA’s wastewater and engineering experts design and permit comprehensive biogas solutions including, biogas capture, anaerobic digestion, gas flaring, compression, transportation, and pipeline injection. GreenGasUSA has operational RNG facilities at agricultural and food processing sources across the country, with proven success in installing, commissioning, and operating gas upgrading equipment; RNG and CO₂ product compression and transportation; and existing pipeline injection infrastructure. GreenGasUSA’s existing assets and partnerships with sustainability leaders are helping to shape the renewable energy landscape by offering solutions to customers dedicated to bettering the environment. GreenGasUSA has six operational RNG facilities, and one CO₂ facility, and is actively developing additional RNG and CO₂ facilities across the U.S.

GreenGasUSA is majority owned by the IFM Net Zero Infrastructure Fund (“IFM NZIF”). IFM NZIF is an open-ended fund, managed by IFM Investors, which targets essential infrastructure assets that seek to accelerate the world’s transition to a net-zero emissions economy.

About Pilgrim’s Pride: As a global food company with more than 62,000 team members, Pilgrim's processes, prepares, packages, and delivers fresh, frozen, and value-added food products for customers in more than 100 countries. The company operates protein processing plants and prepared foods facilities in 14 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.K, the Republic of Ireland and continental Europe. For more information, please visit www.pilgrims.com.

Contacts

GreenGasUSA Media Contact: Jessie Dzura Vice President, Sustainability Policy & Carbon Markets Strategy Jessie.Dzura@greengasusa.com

Pilgrim’s Pride Media Contact: Matt Connelly Director of Communications, JBS USA Matthew.Connelly@JBSSA.com