Man accused of selling fentanyl out of his barber shop

ROCK HILL, S.C. — A Rock Hill barber is accused of selling powerful and potentially deadly painkillers out of his barbershop.

Jimmy Gaston was charged with selling fentanyl pills from Gaston's Barber & Style on Saluda Street.

York County drug agents raided the business Wednesday after a six-month investigation, officials said.

Police said they noticed customers coming and going quickly without haircuts.

Police said they found 22 fentanyl pills in the shop. The drug is a synthetic opioid that is highly addictive and causes overdose deaths.

"Jimmy, at one time, was one of the best barbers we had in the state,” Rock Hill resident Melvin Poole said. “Nobody could cut like Jimmy. So, I'm just surprised that he sunk to selling drugs."

Rock Hill residents told Channel 9 that Saluda Street is a place where neighbors and business owners have long been pushing for change, trying to clean up the area.

"We've been working for the last few years to try to improve this area,” Poole said. “We got a clinic that came up down the street and we've got some other things that are coming, and it's really disheartening to find out that he's selling drugs just four doors down from me."

Substance abuse experts announced on Thursday that since pill drop boxes first appeared in York County in 2009, 5 million doses of unwanted prescription drugs have been collected and kept off the streets.

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