13 charged in meth sweep

By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal

goliver@upstatetoday.com

PICKENS — Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark announced Friday that 13 people are facing 37 criminal charges in a multi-county, multi-agency undercover drug operation that stretched for more than eight months.

Ten of those charged are Pickens County residents, Clark said.

The sheriff said his office joined with the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, Easley Police Department and a U.S. Marshals task force to conduct the investigation, which targeted mid- to upper-level distributors of methamphetamine.

“This is not simple possession — it’s distribution and network type of distribution we’re going after,” Clark said at a news conference Friday morning in Pickens. “You don’t just pull people over to the side of the road and make an arrest. It takes months of hard work and very dangerous work and behind-the-scenes activity.”

Those charged in the undercover drug operation are as follows:

• Steven Kevin Bruening, 55, of Pickens, faces two counts of distribution of

You must be logged in to view this content.