Aiken County seizes 45 firearms & load of drugs after lengthy probe

Joshua Thompson, top, and Jeana Childers, have been charged with drug trafficking after drugs and weapons were found in a narcotics investigation.

Date: August 11, 2023

Aiken County authorities have seized a cache of 45 firearms and nearly four kilos each of meth and fentanyl after an eight-month investigation.

Joshua Thompson, 41, and Jeana Childers, 33, both of Aiken, have been arrested for drug trafficking and more after an investigation that included a search of Days Inn in Aiken and a home on Screech Owl Trail.

The narcotics investigation began in January, a press release says. A search warrant was executed on July 31 at the Day’s Inn at 2654 Columbia Highway North, were investigators seized meth, fentanyl, Ecstasy, cocaine and other drugs. Investigators were led to 134 Screech Owl Trail in Aiken, where a search warrant turned up drugs and 45 firearms that included handguns, shotguns, hunting rifles and assault rifles.

Thompson is charged with Trafficking in Methamphetamine, Trafficking in Fentanyl, Trafficking in MDMA/Ecstasy, Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance Schedule II and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance Schedule IV.

Childers is charged with Trafficking in Methamphetamine, Trafficking in Fentanyl, Trafficking in MDMA/Ecstasy, Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance Schedule II and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance Schedule IV.

Authorities seized 3.6 kilograms of fentanyl and 3.7 grams of meth.

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The Author

Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. He also owns AugustaCrime.com. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel. He is married with two daughters.

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