COLUMBIA, South Carolina ----- United States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins stated today that Cavedric McNair, age 26, and Deandra Maurice Adams, age 24, both of Charlotte, and Douglas McKendrie Mays, IV, age 27, of Cassatt, South Carolina, pled guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute cocaine.  United States District Judge Terry L. Wooten accepted their pleas and will impose sentence at a later date.

Evidence presented at their guilty plea hearings established that all three defendants were part of a group responsible for the distribution of multiple kilograms of cocaine in both North and South Carolina since 2000.  During 2007, confidential informants working for SLED made controlled purchases of cocaine from McNair and Mays.  In October 2007, during a buy-bust undercover operation, McNair and Adams were arrested in possession of more than 150 grams of cocaine. That same day the FBI executed a search warrant at McNair’s Charlotte residence, and found 600 grams of cocaine, along with the packaging for 28 kilograms of cocaine.  Over $4,000 in cash and scales for weighing the cocaine were also found in McNair’s residence. 

Mr. Wilkins stated the maximum penalty McNair and Adams can receive is life imprisonment. Mays is facing a maximum of 40 years imprisonment. 

The case was investigated by the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office, SLED, and the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney A. Bradley Parham of the Florence office.