Accused drug dealer sentenced

A Charleston man could spend up to 35 years in prison after he was found guilty of dealing drugs.

Therron Richardson, 33, was convicted on Thursday by a Charleston County jury in downtown Charleston.

“The drug industry is a business that poisons the community,” Assistant Solicitor Emmanuel Ferguson told the jury. “Shut this business down.”

A 911 call from a woman claiming her boyfriend had hit and chocked her led police to a home at 1956 Old Fort Ave in West Ashley, according to prosecutors.

Investigators never found the woman at the house, but they found cocaine residue, a scale on the bathroom counter, and three handguns under the bed, prosecutors said.

As a result the a narcotics unit executed a search warrant on house and also found a total of five handguns, $26,000 dollars in cash, and over $120,000 worth of cocaine, according to prosecutors.

Richardson has previous convictions for trafficking cocaine, distribution of crack near a school, aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a pistol.

Circuit Judge Stephanie McDonald sentenced him to 30 years in prison for the cocaine trafficking charge and five years to be served consecutively for the weapons offenses.