Fox News Flash top headlines for September 12
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Two men indicted last month in disgraced South Carolina former attorney Alex Murdaugh’s alleged drug and money laundering ring reportedly have ties to a Bloods-affiliated gang.
Spencer Anwan Roberts and Jerry K. Rivers were slapped with obstruction of justice, money laundering, computer crime and fraudulently obtaining signature-related charges on Aug. 19, the same day Murdaugh also faced more indictments from the state grand jury in Colleton County.
The indictments accused the men of carrying out other crimes "involving narcotics, dangerous drugs, or controlled substances, and such crime being of a multi-county nature and having transpired and having significance in more than one county in this state; and such conduct having not been authorized by law."
Murdaugh, who has pleaded not guilty to the June 2021 murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul, was indicted for the first time in connection to an alleged drug trafficking ring two and a half months ago along with accused co-conspirator, Curtis "Fast Eddie" Smith.
ALEX MURDAUGH HEARING ERUPTS IN SHOUTING MATCHES OVER $1M MURDER EVIDENCE IN KILLINGS OF WIFE, SON
Alex Murdaugh sits in court with his legal team during a judicial hearing before Judge Clifton Newman in Colleton County on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Smith, 62, was previously charged with being the gunman in Murdaugh’s 2021 Labor Day weekend botched suicide-for-hire plot cooked up so that his surviving son, Buster, could collect on a $10 million life insurance policy.
June's indictment over an alleged oxycodone and meth trafficking conspiracy says Murdaugh issued approximately 437 checks totaling approximately $2.4 million to Smith from October 7, 2013, through February 28, 2021.
So far, Murdaugh faces 90 additional state charges for alleged schemes to defraud victims — including the sons of his dead housekeeper — of nearly $8.8 million.
Roberts allegedly fraudulently obtained several tens of thousands of dollars in unemployment insurance and federal PPP loans for phony businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
Curtis Edward Smith, 62, is taken back to jail after a judge revoked his bond at a hearing on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in the Richland County, South Carolina. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Rivers is accused of taking a cell phone belonging to another individual who had been arrested and interfering with law enforcement carrying out a search warrant.
The New York Post reported that Roberts and Rivers have either close friends or cousins in the Walterboro Cowboys, a notorious Bloods-affiliated street gang.
"Alex Murdaugh runs half the drugs in this county," one alleged gang member told the Post.
Alex Murdaugh and Curtis Eddie Smith arrested after Murdaugh's alleged botched suicide-for-hire attempt. (Colleton County Sheriffs Office via AP, File)
A law enforcement source told the outlet that the gang, given its operations close to the major I-95, is known for trafficking guns and drugs from Miami up to New York.
Rivers reportedly lived across the street from Walterboro Cowboys leader Khiry Broughton, who, along with seven associates, was sentenced to prison in 2017. Rivers served time for cocaine trafficking offenses back in 2012 but claims he has since gone straight and now is being "railroaded," according to the Post.
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He was released on ankle monitoring after posting a $150,000 bond. Roberts, who also has a criminal record, was arrested last month together with Rivers at a local gambling spot.
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