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  Anti-Gang “RAGE” Task Force Targets Edgefield-Aiken Area web posted October 28, 2008 COLUMBIA – United States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins stated Monday that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF) has joined with local authorities in the Aiken area to form the Regional Anti-Gang Enforcement (RAGE Unit). The joint enforcement task force includes the ATF, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO), the Aiken Department of Public Safety (ADPS), the North Augusta Department of Public Safety (NAPDS), and the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office (ECSO). The ATF RAGE Unit, through the United States Attorney’s Office, was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice for the purpose of focusing on gang-related crimes of violence in South Carolina, particularly in and around Aiken County. The increase of gang-related crime and the growing network of organizational criminal activity prompted the ATF, Aiken County Sheriff Michael Hunt, ADPS Chief Pete Frommer, NADPS Chief Les Wetherington and Edgefield County Sheriff Adell Dobey to form the task force. Additionally, ATF federally deputized several members of the participating local law enforcement agencies on the task force. The RAGE Unit’s strategy is to take apart a specific criminal element before it becomes a larger issue, and to prevent the growth of gang, weapons, and drug-related criminal activity in the region. The ATF RAGE Unit is designed to use proactive investigative measures to investigate multi-defendant, complex criminal conspiracy cases. The information and intelligence collected through the investigations are circulated among task force participants and other cooperative law enforcement agencies which are affected by regional crime, such as the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office in Augusta, Georgia. The United States Attorney’s Office has agreed to aggressively prosecute multi-defendant, complex conspiracies that warrant federal prosecution. The Aiken and Edgefield County Solicitor’s Offices and the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office have also agreed to prosecute cases on the state level. “Operation Currytown” is an example of the recent ATF RAGE Unit case which arose from an 18-month investigation that resulted federal indictments against 22 defendant, and state charges against many others. Investigators believe that co-conspirators have networked their criminal activity from Aiken, Edgefield, and Columbia, South Carolina, to Augusta, Evans, and Atlanta, Georgia. The federal case is pending and will be heard in Columbia. Mr. Wilkins stated, “The information of the RAGE Unit is an example of teamwork and the dedication of the task force members and their participating agencies towards the reduction of violent and gang-related criminal activity.” ©
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