Anderson Man Receives 15-Year Sentence for Cocaine Trafficking

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Mayo Pickens, 47, of Anderson, received a sentence of almost 15 years in federal prison on May 8, 2026, for cocaine trafficking, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

The sentence applies to a single defendant convicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Federal sentencing guidelines for cocaine trafficking offenses carry mandatory minimum terms that scale with quantity and prior record; Pickens received 14 years and 10 months.

The penalty includes a period of supervised release that follows prison time, along with forfeiture of assets tied to the trafficking operation.

The conviction changes Pickens' status from pretrial defendant to federal inmate serving a term that begins immediately upon transfer to Bureau of Prisons custody. No earlier release date exists outside standard good-time credits, which federal law caps at 15 percent of the imposed sentence.

Downstream, the ruling requires the Bureau of Prisons to designate a facility and schedule intake within weeks. The U.S. Probation Office must prepare for supervised release oversight after the prison term ends around 2040. Federal prosecutors retain authority to pursue any co-defendants or related trafficking networks identified during the investigation.

The forfeiture component compels transfer of seized property to the Justice Department's Assets Forfeiture Fund, which finances future law enforcement operations.

This sentencing follows standard procedure under Title 21 of the U.S. Code for powder and crack cocaine distribution offenses. The Department of Justice has pursued similar standalone trafficking cases in the District of South Carolina throughout the past decade, each producing multi-year sentences and forfeiture orders once convictions are secured.

The case was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina.