SC police bust ‘garage manufacturers’ of large amount of heroin and meth pills

David Travis Bland
·2 min read

Greenville police raided what they said was a home-based drug operation capable of manufacturing thousands of heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine pills in an hour and charged two people in the drug scheme.

Thursday, the Greenville County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit searched a house at 105 North Oak Forest Drive in the Berea community. They found a hand-cranked machine that makes pills. The machine could make 3,000 to 5,000 tablets an hour, according to a police statement posted by Crime Stoppers of Greenville.

Investigators also discovered “a substantial quantity of finished” heroin, fentanyl and meth tablets.

Police found cash, two guns, one of which was stolen from Mauldin, and chemicals used to make pills, according to the statement.

Police arrested two people who live at the home. Latravic Cajun Bigby, 35, and Vanhorren Freeda Hor, 28, are charged with trafficking meth and heroin, cocaine possession and owning a gun to commit a violent crime, jail records show.

A machine used to manufacture pills was confiscated in a Greenville County drug bust, police said.
A machine used to manufacture pills was confiscated in a Greenville County drug bust, police said.

Greenville police were tipped off about the house being used as a base for a drug operation, the Crime Stoppers statement said. Drug investigators staked out the location for a month before raiding it.

The pill press showed signs of being operated for months, authorities said.

“The walls and flooring where the machine was being used were covered with a green-colored powder” from ingredients used to make the tablets.

Police called in the National Guard to test the air quality in the house to make sure officers were safe while investigating. The tests concluded investigators needed to wear protective clothing and masks during the search.

“The spread of these pills trafficked across Greenville County is frightening when you think of the potential health risks to users and the sheer number of fentanyl pills being uncovered by law enforcement is alarming,” Bart McEntire, an officer with the drug enforcement unit said in the statement.

Greenville police confiscated cash and pills in a drug bust, they said.
Greenville police confiscated cash and pills in a drug bust, they said.

The pill press that police confiscated can easily be bought on the internet, police said.

“The spread of opioid-based drugs and methamphetamine has accelerated at an already deadly epidemic rate in Greenville County,” said Greenville County Sheriff Johnny Mack Brown. “Dangerous synthetics such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, simply put, will kill unwitting individuals.”

Bigby has drug convictions going back to 2008, court records show. That year he pleaded guilty to marijuana possession. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to possessing and selling drugs, according to the records. Last year, he pleaded guilty to distribution an “imitation controlled substance.”

If convicted of the drug trafficking charges, Bigby and Hor face up to 65 years in prison. As of Saturday afternoon, they were still jailed in Greenville County Detention Center.