A motorcycle gang member has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to trafficking methamphetamine.
Robert Lewis Coney Jr., 50, of North Augusta, was sentenced to 108 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney David H. Estes.
U.S. District Court Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. imposed the prison term on Coney, fined him $2,000, and ordered him to serve five years of supervised release.
Coney’s co-defendant, Donnie Lee Curtis Jr., 37, of Tunnel Hill, Ga., was sentenced in September to 144 months in prison for the same crime.
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“Violent crime in our communities all too often is fueled by drug traffickers, particularly those affiliated with criminal street gangs,” Estes said in the news release.
As described in court documents and testimony, Coney and Curtis were identified as methamphetamine traffickers during an investigation in 2021 initiated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. With assistance from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the two were arrested during a drug deal in the parking lot of a motel in Grovetown on May 19, 2021.
In subsequent searches of their vehicle and hotel rooms in Grovetown and in Trenton, S.C., authorities seized large amounts of high-grade methamphetamine and multiple firearms, according to the news release. Curtis, a member of the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood criminal street gang, was identified as Coney’s source of supply for the illegal drugs. Coney is affiliated with the Red Devils Motorcycle Gang, a support club of the Hell’s Angels.
