Drugs, guns and cash seized after community member provided a tip, SC cops say

A community member’s tip to law enforcement officers who were searching for a man led to a bust where drugs, guns as well as cash were seized and two men were arrested, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.

Vander Antonio Mingledolph, 38, and Jeffrey Vernon Myers, 39, were charged with multiple crimes after being taken into custody at a motel in Columbia, the sheriff’s department said Wednesday in a news release.

The arrests were made April 26 at a motel on Piney Grove Road, according to the release. That’s near Exit 104 on Interstate 26.

“Investigators with the Lexington County Multi-Agency Narcotics Enforcement Team, along with narcotics investigators from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department arrested (Mingledolph) as he walked out of the motel,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in the release. “Investigators smelled marijuana coming from his vehicle, so they conducted a search.”

Law enforcement officers found 150 grams of fentanyl, more than 200 grams of meth, more than 100 grams of cocaine and more than $3,000 in cash in Mingledolph’s car, the sheriff’s department said.

“During their interaction with Mingledolph, investigators learned a man wanted on drug charges in Richland County and known to work with Mingledolph in distributing drugs was in a room at the same motel,” Koon said. “They made contact with (Myers) in his room and smelled marijuana.”

Fentanyl, crack, cocaine and three handguns were found during a search of Myers’ room, according to the release.

Mingledolph was charged with trafficking fentanyl, trafficking meth and trafficking cocaine, the sheriff’s department said.

Myers was charged with trafficking fentanyl, trafficking crack, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm during a violent crime, according to the release.

Both men remain behind bars at the Lexington County Detention Center, jail records show. Mingledolph was denied bond on all of his charges, while Myers was denied bond on the drug trafficking charges, according to jail records.