CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — Chester County’s former animal control director has been sentenced to 18 years behind bars after pleading guilty to drug violations on Friday.
Channel 9 partners at The Rock Hill Herald report that Ace Donovan Hembree pleaded guilty on Friday at the Chester County Courthouse to two counts of meth trafficking and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
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Hembree was also part of a methamphetamine dealing scheme involving Chester County’s former top elected official, The Herald reports.
Officials told The Herald that Hembree has prior drug convictions. In September 2020, he was arrested with over 260 grams of methamphetamine and a weapon. During the trial, prosecutors also pointed out Hembree’s involvement in a drug scheme with former Chester County Supervisor Kenneth ‘Shane’ Stuart.
The Herald reports Stuart was the county supervisor from 2015 until September 2020, when he was arrested along with Hembree and another person. All three were charged in the drug deals.
Stuart hired Hembree for his animal control job and used his official county truck to move the drugs. Officials told The Herald that the defendants thought that because the car had the Chester County seal, they were less likely to be stopped or caught by police.
The Herald reports the drug deals carried on through most of 2020 until arrests were made in September.
Stuart is currently serving at least a seven-year sentence after pleading guilty last October, prosecutors told The Herald.
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