Acting United States Attorney Kevin McDonald stated recently that George Edward Mitchum, 27, of Kingstree, was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison on drug and firearms charges, including firing into the house of a Williamsburg County investigator.
Evidence at trial established that Mitchum was a drug dealer, who used a high-powered rifle to fire into the home of Williamsburg County Investigator Vincent Staggers at 4 a.m. on October 18, 2008. Staggers was up feeding his two day-old baby girl at the time. Some of the eight rounds fired lodged into the bedroom wall of Staggers’ nine year-old son. Staggers had days earlier served a warrant at the county jail on Mitchum for trafficking cocaine, where he was being held for drug possession and resisting arrest. Mitchum later bonded out of jail, then fired into Staggers’ home in retaliation.
Williamsburg County Sheriff Kelvin Washington and other deputies attended the four-hour sentencing hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Rose Mary Parham, who prosecuted the case, stated that she was pleased with the stiff sentence and hopes that it will send a message to anyone thinking of retaliating against law enforcement.
The case agents were Special Agent Vice Flamini with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Investigator Shannon Coker of the Williamsburg County Sheriff’s Office. The case was also investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.