Man sentenced in ‘Blue Magic’ case involving fentanyl-laced pills

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Shiv Balvant Tailor received 20 years for trafficking pills laced with heroin and fentanyl that led to the overdose death of a Lexington teen.

Tailor, 24, of Lexington, and his then-girlfriend Savannah Lynn Stroud, 23, also of Lexington, were charged with trafficking heroin (conspiracy). The indictment said that the two conspired to deal ‘Roxies’ consisting of a mixture of heroin and other substances, including in some instances fentanyl, according to Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Stroud and Tailor are accused of trafficking as many as 3,000 counterfeit pills to then-current or recent graduates of Lexington and River Bluff High School from June 2018 to March of 2019.

Investigation into Tailor’s drug operation showed prior to selling a deadly fentanyl laced pill to 19-year-old Bradly Brunson, another man overdosed on Tailor’s pills while with him. Tailor left him without providing aid, that victim’s friends were able to get him to the hospital in time to save him.

Prosecutors said Tailor knew his pills were potentially deadly at the time he sold them to Brunson. Brunson took the drug alone and was found dead by family members later on Nov. 23, 2018.

Tailor pled guilty to:

1. Trafficking Heroin, 4 grams or more, but less than 14 grams (2019-GS-47-07; Count 1)

2. Involuntary Manslaughter (2019-GS-47-11)

3. Distribution of Narcotic Drugs in Schedule II (Fentanyl) (2019-GS-47-12; Count 3)

4. Distribution of Narcotic Drugs in Schedule II (Fentanyl) (2019-GS-47-14; Count 1)

5. Distribution of Narcotic Drugs in Schedule I (c) (Heroin) (2019-GS-47-35; Count 12)

6. Possession of Cocaine (2019-GS-47-35; Count 2)

Stroud pled guilty to:

1. Trafficking Heroin, 4 grams or more, but less than 14 grams (2019-GS-47-07; Count 1)

2. Distribution of Narcotic Drugs in Schedule II (Fentanyl) (2019-GS-47-12; Count 3)

3. Possession With Intent to Distribute Narcotic Drugs in Schedule I(c) (Heroin) (2019-GS-47-35; Count 14)

4. Possession With Intent to Distribute Narcotic Drugs in Schedule II, (Cocaine) (2019-GS-47-35; Count 17)

Judge Walton J. McLeod, IV sentenced Tailor to 20 years in the trafficking heroin charge, sentences on other charges will run concurrently. Stroud received an eight year sentenced on the heroin trafficking charge, her sentences will also run concurrently. Prosecutors said Stroud cooperated during the investigation and was not directly involved in Brunson’s death.

Previously, Benjamin Jamal Johnson (Slim), 31, of Batesburg; Shiv Balvant Tailor, 21, of Lexington; and Savannah Lynn Stroud, 20, of Lexington, were all charged in May of 2019 with trafficking 14-28 grams of heroin (conspiracy). Specifically, the indictment alleged the “defendants conspired to deal counterfeit ‘Roxies’ consisting of a mixture containing heroin and other substances, including in some instances fentanyl”.

Attorney General Alan Wilson said, “Highly potent and deadly fentanyl is being laced in counterfeit Oxycontin and Xanax pills, as well as in other substances such as Ecstasy, cocaine, and marijuana. Users are essentially playing Russian roulette with these substances because drug dealers and bathroom chemists are not careful to ensure that they do not put too much fentanyl into whatever they are lacing. All it takes is a little too much fentanyl to be dosed on something and all the Narcan in the county cannot not save you.”

Under current South Carolina law, there is not a specific statuette addressing trafficking penalties involving overdose deaths. Wilson shared, “South Carolina law does need to include a robust fentanyl trafficking statute as well as a provision addressing situations where a drug dealer’s trafficking causes overdoses. However, a narcotics epidemic like the one we are in now is not the time to change the law to reduce possible sentences for drug traffickers and get rid of mandatory minimum prison time for those who would sell such dangerous poisons to the community.”

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