BEAUFORT, SC (Feb. 27, 2025) – A 52-year-old man who served a lengthy stint in federal prison is behind bars again, this time for dealing fentanyl and other drugs out of a Port Royal mobile home.
A Beaufort County General Sessions Court jury found David Fields Jr. guilty of eight offenses, stemming from two sets of charges. He was sentenced to 25 years in state prison and fined $75,000.
“This defendant essentially ran a pharmacy for illicit drugs, complete with a drive-up window in the front of his mobile home,” said Deputy Solicitor Mary Jordan Lempesis of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who was the lead prosecutor on the case. “Investigators recovered a staggering amount of drugs, along with an arsenal of handguns he needed to guard his nefarious inventory.
“Law enforcement got these dangerous drugs off the streets, and now this jury has helped take a dangerous dealer off the streets, too.”
In 1988, Fields was convicted in federal court for charges that included distribution of cocaine and money laundering. He received a life sentence, but his penalty was reduced after a change to federal drug laws.
He now returns to state prison for offenses related to a July 18, 2019, search and seizure of his residence on Port Royal’s Wayside Lane and surveillance operations that preceded the search. The offenses were:
- Trafficking cocaine;
- Trafficking crack cocaine;
- Distribution of crack cocaine;
- Possession with intent to distribute fentanyl;
- Possession with intent to distribute oxycodone;
- Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine;
- Possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime;
- Possession of handgun with an obliterated serial number.
Fields represented himself during the proceedings. The jury needed just 75 minutes to reach its verdict.
Lempesis and Assistant Solicitor James Sharpe, who assisted with the prosecution, called seven witnesses during three days of testimony at the Beaufort County Courthouse.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Crime Suppression Unit conducted a months-long investigation after a confidential informant reported that crack was being sold from a mobile home on Wayside Lane in Port Royal, often through a window at the front of the residence. The informant made several controlled buys and identified Fields as the seller. Surveillance revealed heavy vehicle traffic to and from the property. Traffic stops were conducted on two such vehicles, and controlled substances and paraphernalia were found.
Authorities obtained a warrant to search the home and arrest Fields. They confiscated:
- 31.485 grams of fentanyl;
- 144.81 grams of cocaine;
- 16.49 grams of cocaine crack;
- 37 tablets of oxycodone;
- 948 pills of various types and mixed compounds;
- 1.85 grams of methamphetamine;
- Five pistols, two of which were reported stolen;
- $3,381 in cash, including bills a confidential informant used in a controlled purchase.
Fields’ criminal record dates to 1989 and includes convictions for assault and battery, shoplifting, filing a false police report, resisting arrest, DUI and driving under suspension.
Circuit Court Judge Robert Bonds handed down the sentence.
