Man who oversaw SC drug trafficking from behind bars now faces new federal sentence (2024)

COLUMBIA — Being locked up did not seem to have deterred a prison inmate from overseeing a drug trafficking operation in South Carolina.

The inmate, Benjamin Newman, pleaded guilty in federal court to being part of a conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs. On Aug. 12, he was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison — which overlaps the 25 years he is serving in South Carolina prison for a drug trafficking conviction in 2012.

Federal authorities said Newman, 38, used contraband cellphones to lead a large-scale drug distribution operation from state prison since at least 2018. They said he used the phones to order methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and marijuana from Mexico and other countries.

Newman recruited drivers to pick up the drugs in Georgia, Texas and Florida before delivering them to stash houses in the Lexington County area, investigators said. From there, they said, his co-conspirators would supply drug dealers in the state, using threats of violence to keep the operation going.

Authorities said Newman and his co-conspirators had distributed a high volume of illegal drugs: over 770 pounds of meth, as well as pounds of heroin, cocaine and marijuana.

“Some of our highest volume drug traffickers are working from a prison cell,” Adair Ford Boroughs, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina, said in a statement. “We thank Director Stirling and the investigators at the South Carolina Department of Corrections for their work to put an end to their continued criminal conduct.”

During a five-year period while he was in state prison, the corrections department said officers seized 16 contraband cellphones from him.

“He was able to continue his crimes from behind bars using illegal cellphones,” Stirling said in a statement. “His conviction highlights the urgent need for state prisons to be able to jam illegal contraband cellphones.”

When asked how police discovered that Newman was running a drug trafficking operation from prison, corrections department spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said law enforcement officers received a tip about him and the investigation grew to encompass other people.

Newman’s federal sentence is to run concurrently with the unserved term of his state sentence, which is projected to end in 2033. The state corrections department and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will coordinate when he will be turned over to federal custody, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Veronica Hill said.

Newman was federally charged in 2022 alongside seven other people. His co-defendants include Douglas Mayes Jr. and Chelsie Wynn, who have also been serving drug-related sentences in state prison, the corrections department’s inmate database shows.

All defendants have been convicted, and four are awaiting sentencing, according to court records.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in South Carolina has been prosecuting the cases. Newman was represented by defense attorney John Warren III.