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Federal Jury Convicts Columbia Man of 11 Federal Charges 

A Columbia Police Department suspect who was charged in connection with a two-year drug trafficking investigation at Martin Luther King (MLK) Park was convicted in federal court yesterday, June 22, 2017.

News release from the United States Attorney’s Office | District of South Carolina shown below:

United States Attorney Beth Drake  stated today that a federal jury in Columbia convicted Emanuel Cheeseboro, a/k/a “Mandoo”, age 35, of Columbia, South Carolina, of six (6) counts of possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine and marijuana, a violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), two (2) counts of felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), two (2) counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), and one (1) count of possession of  marijuana, a violation 21 U.S.C. § 844(a).

(Previous Alvin S. Glenn Detention booking photograph taken 4/17/2014)

United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., of Columbia,  presided over the three-day trial and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report, which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.

Evidence presented during the trial established that after numerous citizen complaints, ATF and the Columbia Police Department began targeting drug dealers in the Martin Luther King Park area of Columbia.

Law enforcement made multiple undercover purchases of crack cocaine from Cheeseboro in the spring of 2014.  These purchases took place at different houses in the MLK Park area.  In each case, Cheeseboro was captured on video selling crack cocaine.  During one purchase, Cheeseboro bragged about and displayed a 9mm Taurus firearm with a laser sight that he kept during nighttime drug purchases.

Pursuant to a search warrant executed during the investigation on a house where Cheeseboro was present, police found crack cocaine, marijuana, and scales.  Law enforcement was also able to locate a firearm sometime after the search warrant that they were able to link to Cheeseboro, a convicted felon.

On June 8, 2016, CPD officers detained Cheeseboro and a female who were both located in a vehicle at a residence in Columbia, known as “the Hole”.  During their investigation and search of the car, officers found a Smith and Wesson .38 caliber pistol under the driver’s seat, a quantity of crack cocaine on the female driver and a quantity of marijuana in the trunk of the car.  According to the female occupant, Cheeseboro asked her to hide the crack cocaine on her person and shoved the gun under her seat when the police arrived.

Ms. Drake stated that Cheeseboro faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.  The case was investigated by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Columbia Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorneys William K. Witherspoon and Alyssa Leigh Richardson of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project CeaseFire, a joint federal, state and local law enforcement partnership, which aggressively prosecutes gun cases.

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